SRINAGAR: Over 20 women were injured one of them seriously when the police and paramilitary forces resorted to lathi charge and lobbed teargas shells to overcome resistance to the arrest of a woman Mehmooda accused of being a Pak-trained militant here.
The arrested woman was released in the evening in view of the mounting tension in the city. However an official spokesman said that she had been picked up for questioning and was set free “on humanitarian grounds as she had delivered a baby recently.
According to official sources the police and Border Security Force (BSF) personnel accompanied by female constables of the CRPF raided Mehmoodas house at Hyderpora. Women of the locality came out in large numbers and offered resistance to her arrest. The police first resorted to a lathi-charge but when the women fought back it lobbed teargas shells and also fired gunshots in the air to disperse them. A woman who had a head injury was removed to hospital.
As Mehmooda was arrested three of her women relatives insisted on accompanying her to police custody along with her 10-day old baby. However an official spokesman said that only her brother had been detained with her though there were no charges against him.
It is the first time since insurgency began in Kashmir three years ago that a woman has been arrested on charges of being a trained militant An official spokesman told The Times of India News Service that Mehmooda had gone to Pak in November 1989 for training in subversion and handling of arms and had stayed there until June 1990 He said her husband was also a prominent militant. Mehmoodas family has denied the charge that she is a Pak trained militant her husband told a reporter on phone from his hide-out that her arrest was aimed at putting pressure on him.
As news spread that a woman had been arrested shopkeepers in many parts of the city downed their shutters Vehicles were also withdrawn from roads. Agitated women held demonstrations at many places in the city against the incident which they described as “outrageous”.
The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front KLE) gave a call for an indefinite general strike in the Valley against the arrest of Mehmooda which may be withdrawn in view of here lease In a statement issued here the JKLF has threatened to retaliate against those police officers “responsible for satanic acts against women.” The outfit has particularly named the SSP Srinagar Rajinder Kumar and the SP City (South) S.M.Sahai.
Meanwhile three Para-military personnel were injured and a BSF vehicle was damaged when it hit a landmine at Chhanpora on the outskirts of Srinagar. An unofficial report said that three jawans had later succumbed 16 injuries in the Army hospital The police said that the body ¢ one Ghulam Nabi Pandit wo had been abducted was” recovered from Ningli Nallah in Baramullah. It also said militants shot dead two villagers in Pulwama district.
According to an unconfirmed: report militants also shot ¢ three persons for having consumed liquor at Dara on the outskirts of Srinagar.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 12, 1992
