Srinagar
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday criticized separatists for “maintaining silence” after the recovery of the decapitated body of Hajin resident in Bandipora district. The person had earlier been kidnapped.
KL Image by Bilal Bahadur
Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, 25 was abducted on Thursday when suspected militants barged into his house in Hajin. The next day his headless body was retrieved by the locals near Ganderbal area, one kilometre from his home at Bouinkhan Mohalla of Hajin area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
A police official said that the body of Manzoor Ahmad Bhat (25), son of Abdul Gaffar Bhat, was found headless at an orchard falling in Bonmohalla Hajin.
Kl Image by Bilal Bahadur
Earlier on Thursday, police said the militants barged into the house of Abdul Gaffar Bhat in north Kashmir’s Hajin and beat the inmates and abducted Gaffar and his son Manzoor Ahmad Bhat. Gaffar was successful in escaping from them in spite of sustaining gunshots injury in his belly, police stated.
Police blamed a local militant affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit behind the killing.
Omar Abdullah in a series of tweets on Friday said he is not surprised that no shutdown call was issued to protest against the killing of Hajin resident.
Kl Image by Bilal Bahadur
Taking to social networking site Twitter Omar wrote: “Any shutdown call or call for “peaceful protests” for Manzoor Ahmed who’s decapitated body was found in North Kashmir after he’d been abducted & killed by militants? No? I’m not surprised”.
Omar also said that a deliberate attempt to term the perpetrators as “unknown gunmen” is to give them a safe escape.
“The “unknown gunmen” are conveniently termed to give cover to those who don’t want to/can’t criticise terrorist crimes,” he wrote.
Omar wrote: “What happens to “Kashmir Solidarity” and wanna be Imran Khans when people like Manzoor are inhumanly butchered? It’s so easy to flow with the tide, much tougher to swim against it”.
The entire belt wore a deserted look and not many people were out on the streets. Whoever was around were visibly frightened.
There was a trickle of people coming to the home of Gaffar for mourning. He was also there. The women who had assembled for mourning were inconsolable. Gaffar did not talk much to the media that had gone to cover the funeral.
A few hundred people, mostly residents and the relatives of the family, had assembled for the funeral prayers.
After the end of dreaded Ikhwan rule, Hajin remained relatively calm for years, before two local boys: Aabid and Nasrullah joined militant ranks post-Burhan Wani killing. Despite their killing in separate encounters in 2017, Hajin remains hot-bed for Lashkar-e-Taiba. The recent phase of killings in Hajin has sent entire Sumbal belt in a perpetual era of uncertainty.
