KHURSHEED WANI takes you through the major encounter that shook the Valley and is tagged as one of the biggest success stories of security operations in the Kashmir Valley in more than a decade
On the night intervening March 31 and April 1, 2018, there was a massive movement of security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. Past midnight, troops of the Rashtriya Rifles, Paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police fanned out in Draggad-Sugan and Kachdoora villages, located around 20 km apart.
The people were fast asleep. They don’t dare to venture out after dusk since the area turns into a hotbed of militancy. last month, four civilians travelling in two cars were gunned down. The fear is palpable. The streets and orchards, alleys and fields lie abandoned in the night. Those who move around are combatants armed with sophisticated weapons.
Security forces sealed off the entry and exit points to Dragad before the hideout was zeroed in on. Once the village was besieged, a column of security men knocked at the house of Mushtaq Ahmad Thokar, a 40-year orchardist. The nocturnal knock shocked his wife, 10-year-old twins and old parents but he mustered the courage to open the door. The soldiers asked him to lead them to a house belonging to Rafiq Ahmad. Reluctantly, he obliged.
In a few minutes, he was outside Ahmad’s house with soldiers in toe. As he knocked at the door and shouted Ahmad’s name, there was commotion inside the house. A group of militants inside the house hurriedly came out and an exchange of fire took place. Thokar could not find an escape route. His body was found outside the house after the encounter ended. The family alleged he was taken as a human shield.
Ahmad’s house is in a cluster of half-a-dozen houses built amid apple orchards. From past midnight to around 8 am, the villagers heard intense firing and explosions. It was followed by a lull, indicating that no militant was alive inside. The soldiers called up villagers to go inside the damaged houses. They found seven bodies of militants at different spots.
“We had pinpoint Intelligence about the presence of militants. The operation was conducted past midnight to avoid collateral damage,” a senior police officer said. Sources said that 11 militants were hiding in the house that belonged to the maternal aunt of slain militant Zubair Ahmad Turray. Four of them, including Zeenatul Islam alias Alqama, managed to escape the cordon.
After the recovery of bodies, locals gathered around the encounter site in large numbers, shouting slogans and hampering the withdrawal of security forces. This led to intense clashes. The security personnel were compelled to fire automatic weapons and pellet guns to disperse the protesters. Dozens were wounded.
The police said, accurate human Intelligence, coupled with mobile phone tracking, helped them track down the Hizbul Mujahideen and lashkar-e-Tayyeba group that had converged in the village to chalk out ‘future strategy’. One of the militants whose phone was on surveillance was heard calling others to join them in the meeting, he said.
While the operation was on in Dragad, security forces simultaneously cordoned off Kachdoora where another group of ultras was hiding. This group was tougher to deal with. Despite a tight cordon around the house, the hiding militants took positions and fired intensely.
A photographer covering the encounter told Sunday Pioneer that a soldier was hit in his chest which prompted security forces to finish the encounter. Soon the hideout was pounded with mortars and razed to smithereens.
From the debris, five bodies of militants were recovered, all identified as locals. There was no foreigner in the group. Away from the encounter site, two more soldiers, who had been evacuated with critical wounds, succumbed making the Kachdoora encounter one of the most intense gunfights in the recent counterinsurgency history of Jammu and Kashmir. like in Sugan-Dragad village, hundreds of villagers gathered around the encounter site in a failed bid to help the militants escape. They were repulsed by security forces. Scores were injured in the ensuing clashes.
The third encounter of the series took place in the neighbouring Anantnag district at Dyalgam village where two local militants were trapped. The police gave ample time to the holed up militants to lay down their arms. One of them, Imran Rashid, who had joined Hizbul Mujahideen group only a few days ago, complied but the other, Rouf Ahmad Khanday, 19, refused to surrender. His parents were called in to persuade him but he refused and was eventually gunned down. Altaf Khan, senior superintendent of Anantnag police, who has a long track of counterinsurgency operations to his credit, said that he turned emotional when the son refused the surrender to the pleas of his old parents.
The three encounters took place on Sunday at a time when the Kashmir valley was steadily heading towards a semblance of normalcy. Hundreds of tourists were arriving to enjoy the riot of colours in the famed tulip garden on the banks of the Dal lake. The mustard fields in the length and breadth of the valley were in full bloom and almond alcoves at Badamwari in Srinagar and Pulwama plateaus in the south were enchanting.
The children were tuning in to the routine of going to school every morning. From the beginning of April, they were ecstatic to follow the new school timings. The State Government and the people associated with the tourism trade were on Cloud 9 on the successful conduct of 64th annual conclave of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) in Srinagar. The delegates who enjoyed the hospitality in Srinagar, Pahalagam and Gulmarg were vowing to promote Kashmir tourism by sending hordes of tourists.
But the ‘bloody Sunday’ came as an interruption. The locals who had planned to go out for picnics halted where they were. Even as no tourist got harmed anywhere, the emerging situation appalled them. Many of them stayed put but lots were seen rushing to the airport ahead of schedule. New arrivals were affected.
At the end of the day, the death count was staggering. Twenty people died in three incidents of violence. They included 13 militants, three soldiers and four civilians. This was the highest count of militants killed in a single day in a more than a decade. The security forces described it as ‘major victory’.
“Today is a very special day. We are all glad that our forces have successfully managed to kill a large group of militants in three separate gunfights in southern Kashmir. This is probably the biggest strike on the militants in a decade,” XV Corps commander lt Gen Anil Kumar Bhatt told mediapersons at counterinsurgency division Victor Force’s headquarters at Awantipora. He was flanked by police chief Shesh Paul Vaid and Inspector General of CRPF, Zulfikar Hassan.
The Corps commander was more satisfied on ‘avenging’ the killing of young Army officer lieutenant Umar Fayaz. He said at least two militants killed in the Sunday (April 1) encounters were involved in abduction and subsequent killing of lt Umar in May last year. Umar was unarmed and off-duty in the area to participate in a marriage ceremony of his cousin when militants kidnapped him and later threw his body outside the village. “After his (Umar Fayaz’s) killing in May last year, we were desperately waiting to avenge the death of our beloved officer,” lt Gen Bhatt said.
The Shopian and Anantnag encounters highlight the grim security situation in the Valley, especially in the southern region. Even as Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range) Swayam Prakash Pani maintains that recruitment in militant ranks had fallen rather than increased, official figures said that 23 youngsters joined militancy in 2018. A few youth have gone missing and there is a possibility of them joining the militants.
This is in tune with the trend observed in last two years when 214 youngsters joined groups like Hizb, lashkar and Jaish-e-Muhammad. The figures reveal that during this year, 44 militants have been killed in the Valley where around 200 militants are active.
During the counterinsurgency operations, 20 security forces personnel also lost their lives. In Shopian zone alone, 16 militants were killed while as 17 civilians lost their lives in the incidents of violence. In 2017, a highest number of 206 militants and 81 security personnel were killed.
The fillip in militant recruitment began in July 2016 after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani. His death triggered a massive public uprising that crippled the State machinery for more than five months. The uprising was quelled with force that left scores dead and thousands injured.
“The peak of recruitment post-Burhan was in Pulwama and Shopian When we compare the numbers with this year’s the recruitment has remained manageable, and in addition to it, people are returning,” Pani says. He adds this year as many as 11 youngsters have returned to their families after relinquishing the path of militancy.
Pani’s optimism notwithstanding, ground reality indicates that militancy was never on the wane in the region. During the funeral of the slain militants in Shoipan, a youngster publicly donned Army fatigue, brandished an automatic rifle and announced his decision to join the “path of my martyred friend.”
Educated youngsters, too, are joining the ranks. In March, Junaid Sehrai, 30-year son of senior separatist leader Ashraf Sehrai joined Hizbul Mujahideen. He was pursuing MBA in Kashmir University and took the extreme decision a few days after his father was nominated Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, a constituent of Syed Ali Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference. Interestingly, his father refused to make an appeal for his return. A quick look at the profiles of the slain militants indicates that most of them were in the age group of 18 to 25 years and come from well-to-do families. Ubaid Shafi Malla, 19, a resident of Babkhider-Trenz was preparing for NEET when he joined the militant ranks. He had joined the militant group on February 3, 2017.
The case of Zubair Ahmad Turray is quite interesting. A resident of Bonbazar area of Shopian, Turray was a staunch supporter of Geelani and played a pivotal role in organising anti-India rallies in the area. He was detained umpteen times and slapped with the Public Safety Act 11 times. His father Bashir Ahmad said that 11 months ago, Turray fled from police custody and joined the militant ranks. “He had no option. He wanted to live a normal life but the police never allowed him to do so. Often, he was detained illegally,” he said.
Nazim Ahmad Dar, 22, a resident of Urpora-Nagbal village was a student of Class XII when he took up arms in June 2017. He had memorised the entire Quran in a seminary. Rayees Ahmad Thoker, a resident of Padderpora village was active in militancy since October 2017. A matriculate, he was running a readymade garment’s shop but took up arms to join his cousin Gayasul Islam. The duo, along with another fellow villager, was killed in two separate encounters the same day. Gayasul died in the Kachdura encounter, his body charred beyond recognition. He was active for a year and a half.
Yawar Ahmad Yatoo, 25, a resident of Safnagri village was a militant for the past nine months. He had pursued religious education in various seminaries and belonged to a well-to-do family of orchardists. Adil Ahmad Thoker, was another militant in his teens who was a motor mechanic before embarking on the deadly track five months ago.
Another cadre of the group was Ishfaq Ahmad Malik, 28, a resident of Pinjora village active for two-and-a-half months. He was into the fruit business before taking a plunge into militancy.
Sameer Ahmad lone, a resident of Hillow-Imamsahib had joining the militant ranks only a month ago. Sources said that lone had gone to Pakistan on a valid visa to undergo training. Even his family did not know about his visits. It was only after sleuths of police Intelligence began tracking his activities that he formally joined the militant ranks.
Observers say that more than the active involvement of teenaged boys in militancy, the disturbing trend for the security establishment is the support of people to militants. “It is because of people’s support that the militants are surviving. They are given heroic send-off when they are killed. People risk their lives to attempt their safe passage should they fall into security dragnet,” Showkat Hussain, a college teacher, says.
“The killing of 13 militants in south Kashmir’s Shopian and Anantnag districts on Sunday is, to all appearances, a major success for the security forces. Some TV channels also termed it a major boost for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of next year’s General Election. But on a closer look, it is by no means a setback for the separatist movement. Rather it is the opposite,” writes prominent journalist Altaf Hussain. Interestingly, a conversation between a holed up militant and his father went viral on the social media recently, highlighting the commitment of militants and their families.
The militant, Eitmaad Hussain Dar, 26, of Amshipora village, had joined militancy in November 2017. “I’m trapped. If I have committed any mistakes, please forgive me,” he tells his brother before seeking to talk to his father. “I couldn’t fulfill my promise. Now I can’t tell it,” the militant tells his father. He had apparently promised to meet his father. The father tells him that he could not tell him to lay down his arms and surrender. “If you can break the cordon, try it. If not, then what can be doneIJ” says the militant’s father. “Have courage. You were God’s gift to me. Now I will return you to Him,” he says.
Hussain then tells his father that another militant Abrar was hit in his head. He too joins the conversation and explains that his voice stuttered because of the bullet wound. He wanted the number of his father to make his last call before the conversation ends.