Images of a minor boy, sitting over bullet-ridden body of his maternal grandfather, stirred a Nation’s conscience shortly after two Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) terrorists, hiding in an attic of a local mosque, ambushed a CRPF party killing a jawan and a civilian on the spot while leaving three others grievously injured near Model town area of Sopore on early Wednesday morning.
Braving a barrage of fire, a Station House Officer of Sopore, identified as Azim Khan, safely evacuated a visibly 'traumatised' kid and handed him over to his family after a short gap.
Flouting all norms, the images of a minor boy, sitting by the side of a 'motionless' body of his grandparent, wailing inside a policy gypsy went viral on various social media platforms.
In the last two weeks, it is for the second time the terrorists have used a religious place to target the security forces in Kashmir valley.
Two terrorists were neutralised in a Jamia mosque in Meej area of Pampore on June 19 without causing any collateral damage inside the mosque.
According to a local police officer, "the minor child was traveling in a private car with his maternal grandparent, identified as 65 year old Bashir Ahmad from Srinagar". "Bashir Ahmad was working as a contractor and was heading towards Handwara to pick someone. When he was caught in the crossfire he ran out of the car to secure a safer place but received two bullet injuries and succumbed".
Some miscreants in Kashmir valley also attempted to launch a misinformation campaign on various social media platforms and even aggrieved family members parroted the narrative that a civilian was killed by CRPF jawans. Reacting to these reports, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar, denied all these allegations and also urged the family to appreciate the role of a police officer who saved their minor boy and escorted him to safety amidst exchange of heavy gunfire. "I want to ask them whether they were present at the site of the incident. Did they see themselves who fired" ? IGP asked. He also patted the back of the SHO for discharging his duty and saving an innocent life during cross firing.
A CRPF spokesman in Srinagar also rejected the family's allegation. “His family was not on the spot. How can they level such allegations,” he said. “Bashir Ahmad was killed in the terrorist firing. He was hit by the bullets coming from the same side from where our CRPF jawans were also hit,” he said.
According to a Station House Officer (Sopore), Azim Khan, "when the local police party arrived at the spot they saw injured CRPF jawans and a civilian lying in a pool of blood". He said, "we also noticed a minor boy present there. My first priority was to evacuate him to safety. We covered the area with mobile bunkers of J&k Police and CRPF to prevent the minor boy from coming in the line of fire from the opposite side". SHO said, "we also shifted the injured CRPF jawans and one of them succumbed due to fatal bullet injuries in the hospital". SHO claimed, no one coming from the opposite direction from Handwara and Kupwara received bullet injuries. Some of the travelers had taken shelter inside local shops and we rescued several among them,none of them were hurt in the firing from our side. He claimed, "all the CRPF men and a civilian received injuries when terrorists fired upon them from inside a local mosque in the area".
Sharing sequence of events, IG Kashmir range told media persons in Srinagar, "around 7.30 a.m when a CRPF party was deboarding near a Model town area of Sopore to set up a routine security checkpoint near Model town area of Sopore they were fired upon by two LeT terrorists from a nearby mosque".
He claimed one of the LeT terrorists involved in the attack was a Pakistani national Usman Bhai and another was identified as Nasir, a local LeT cadre.
Vijay Kumar said, "It is for the second time in the last one month, terrorists have entered inside a mosque to carry out a strike on the security forces". Security forces had earlier neutralised two terrorists in Pampore inside a mosque without causing any damage to the religious structure. He said the police party had recovered one full and one half magazine from inside the mosque soon after the attack.He also appealed to the local religious leaders and members of the masjid committees to prevent use of mosque by these terrorists in future.
of condemning the terror attack on the security forces, the former Chief Minister and Vice President of the National Conference questioned the conduct of the security forces in his tweets.
"Everything becomes a propaganda tool in the bloody violence in Kashmir. A three year old toddler has to have his misery broadcast to the whole world to drive home the “we good they bad” message. We would have got the point without his misery being filmed & shared so please don’t". In another tweet Omar said, "We would have expected no less from the men in uniform than to rescue the young boy & for that they have our gratitude but we would expect better than for them to film & use a three year old’s pain the way it’s being done today".
PDP Chief,Mehbooba Mufti also posted a tweet saying, "Two versions about what caused the death of a 65 yr old civilian in Sopore. Family has held CRPF responsible for his cold blooded murder. Kashmiris are stuck in the crossfire between armed forces & militants".