SRINAGAR: At Least 25 militants hiding in two houses near the shrine were killed in a shot out with the security forces near the shrine early last week.

The militants, belonging to the JKLF (Siddique) group had seized the shrine vacated it soon after and had been holed up in the two houses for three days.

The shootout took place around 5:30a.m, after three women, two children and three militants came out of the two houses following a call from the police to the militants to surrender. The two houses were gutted in a fire which broke out during the shootout, which included mortar firing, according to some local residents.

Those killed included the group Jeader Shabir Siddiqui and five unidentified persons. The unidentified bodies were buried at the Idgah grave yard while the other bodies were handed over to the relatives.

The All Party Hurriyat Conference and the rival JKLF group of Yasin Malik have strongly condemned the incident, describing the killings as “custodial deaths.” Violent incidents, including throwing stones was reported from about a dozen localities, in a couple of places the police fired in the air to control the situation. The Hurriyat Conference has called for a two day strike in protest. The militant group had barged into the Hazmtbal shrine in an encounter which had left nine militants dead, and had agreed to leave, The security forces allowed them to leave and they moved into two houses, barely a stone’s throw from the shrine, Though J&K Governor K.V. Krishna Rao had denied that there had been a deal with the militant group, it is believed that they were given safe passage outside the shrine in order to get them to vacate it,

The militants had forced open the inner doors of the shrine and had even toed 16 open the vault containing the sacred relic of The Prophet. The state authorities had organized a joint inspection with the Custodian and Members of the Muslim Auqaf Trust to testify that the relic was safe, Local residents rushed to clean and wash down the Shrine as soon as it was opened. “We just want the militants to leave the shrine alone,” said one elderly woman,

There had been deep distrust and concern among the local residents over the fact that there was an attempt to tamper with the vault containing the sacred relic. A local resident, Abdul Ghani claimed that the militants were a “renegade group,” a term used to describe the State administration supported armed groups. “They have boon living here for the past two years, why wore they allowed to do so.” he asked.

The militants holed up in the two houses did not have the people’s support, this was clear when about several hundred devotees offered Frida: prayers at the shrine, despite the militants shouting to them to keep away,

The Muslim Auqaf Trust issued a Statement that there would be no congregational prayers at the shrine till certain “commandants” were fulfilled by the government. The commitment was not specified but it seemed to indicate safe passage from the area for the militants. The JKLF also issued a similar statement,

However, the shootout resulting in the death of 22 persons is likely to Change the mood of the people, The Hazruthal area looked as though cur few had been imposed there, three was a grim silence around as people stayed indoors.

A State Government press statement stated that the JKLF (Siddique group) had moved into a nearby house after vacating the Hazratbal shrine on March 26. “They had threatened the revered of the area who had mediated during the vacation of shrine by the militants, These militants had also threatened the Muslim Auqaf Trust as a result of which the Auqaf had ad vised devotees not to visit the Dargah.”

The killing shortly after the murder of civil rights activists Jalil Andrabi is likely to generate an averse reaction.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 3, 1996