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Saturday, August 8, 2015

Despite 'restrictions', 8,000 attend militant's funeral in PDP bastion

NC Panch's son captured after snatching away AK-47 from Policeman

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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SRINAGAR, Aug 7: That the highly radicalised militants are enjoying a field day and the separatists regaining their ground fast in the ruling PDP's stronghold in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was clear with the participation of around 8,000 residents in the funeral of the slain Lashkar-r-Tayyiba militant Talib Afzal Shah at Kakpora village on Friday.

Officials of the Executive Police as well as the PDP leaders insisted that the gathering was "just 4,000-strong", but an intelligence arm of the Jammu and Kashmir Police reported that "7,000 to 8,000 people" attended Talib's funeral procession and Namaaz-e-Janazah. Talib, code-named Abu Umar, had died in an overnight encounter at a fellow villager's house with Rashtriya Rifles 50 Bn and Special Operations Group of Pulwama District Police.

Informed official sources told STATE TIMES that one the most wanted Pakistani militants of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Abu Dujana, managed to escape despite a tight cordon by forces. "Dujana was very much present with Talib at the hideout but his body did not surface from the debris of the demolished house. Clearly, he has escaped with the advantage of many residents throwing stones on the security forces", said an official.

Talib, who had a postgraduation in physical education, was buried amid anti-India, pro-Pakistan and pro-Azadi slogans by the gathering on Friday. Even as the authorities enforced undeclared curfew and imposed restrictions on the peoples' movement towards Kakpora, around 8,000 residents attended the militant's funeral. Sporadic clashes took place between the demonstrators and the Police and CRPF around Kakpora even as the residents of Lelhar, Sambora, Alchibagh and other villages were prevented from heading towards Kakpora.

Over a dozen persons sustained injuries during the ding-dong clashes. Officials said that five persons with minor injuries were treated and discharged from the local hospitals. However five more with bullet and pellet injuries were admitted at SMHS Hospital in Srinagar. Two each of them had bullet and pellet injuries. One more, according to officials, has lost three fingers when he picked up a tear gas shell to throw it on Police but it exploded in his hand.

Pulwama and Shopian districts have been a stronghold of the mainstream PDP and the pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami with all the six Assembly seats going to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s party in 2008 and 2014 elections. Even in 2002, PDP had bagged five out of the six seats.

Meanwhile, at the Tehsil headquarters of Tral in the same area, a young man, identified as Fayaz Ahmad Lone of Pastoona, today snatched away an AK-47 rifle from a Police constable on duty and ran away. However, the Police chased him and captured him at a distance of 400 metres. He was relieved of the rifle and whisked away to Police Station for sustained interrogation.

Interestingly, according to the residents and the officials, Lone's mother is an elected Panch of the mainstream opposition party National Conference. His father is reportedly a farmer and his brother a truck driver.

In a related development, Police detained a top wanted Hizbul Mujahideen militant Aaqib's brother Suhail for questioning. He is a resident of Hayina village in Tral.

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