Two policemen separately guarding a revered shrine and a moderate Hurriyat Conference leader were killed in Kashmir on Sunday as suspected terrorists decamped with the service rifles of the slain cops. The security forces launched searches in the areas but there was no trace of the attackers.
According to police sources, unidentified terrorists surfaced in Bilal Colony area of Soura on the outskirts of Srinagar city on Sunday evening and fired upon a police constable guarding the residence of Fazlul Haq Qureshi, a defunct leader of Hurriyat Conference who has been under security since an attempt was made on his life in December 2009.
Sources said the cop was fired upon from a close range before the attackers snatched his service rifle and fled away taking advantage of darkness and maze of lanes in the area. The policeman identified as Farooq Ahmad Yattu, a resident of Chadoora in central Kashmir, was immediately shifted to nearby Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, where he succumbed to injuries.
Senior Superintendent of Police Imtiyaz Ismail Parray confirmed the cop’s death saying the investigation was taken up. Fazlul Haq Qureshi was an active separatist leader who favoured dialogue process and was part of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq led team of Hurriyat Conference that entered into dialogue process with Central Government in 2003.
Earlier, in 2000, Qureshi brokered peace talks between the Home Ministry and Hizbul Mujahideen outfit in Kashmir. The ceasefire announced by Hizb and talks between the outfit’s commanders and the top Home Ministry officials led by the then home secretary Kamal Pandey did not last for two weeks. Apparently for his pro-dialogue stance, Qureshi was attacked at his residence in December 2009, which left him dysfunctional.
He was reportedly attacked with an iron road that damaged his skull. He was in comatose for a longer period. After recovery from the assault, he was never seen publicly. The authorities had provided him security on the basis of threat perception. Yattu’s killing is the second such incident in a day.
Earlier, a constable guarding the shrine of revered patron saint of Kashmir Sheikh Nooruddin Wali at Chrar-e-Sharief in central district Budgam was attacked. Unidentified gunmen fired two bullets on Constable Kultar Singh, a resident of Jammu who was immediately shifted to hospital by the locals.
He, however, succumbed at the hospital due to excessive loss of blood. The attackers took away the self-loading rifle of the slain cop. A manhunt has been launched by the security forces to nab the assailants. No terrorist outfit has claimed responsibility for the two attacks. Security officials say that terrorists are facing acute dearth of weapons as they are focusing on fresh local recruitments to up the ante in Kashmir.