Six mysterious killings in 3 weeks: who is killing Sopore’s men?

The sixth killing was witnessed in Mundji on the outskirts of Sopore, where two “clean-shaven” gunmen shot dead Ajaz Ahmad Reshi, a former Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant, in front of other villagers.

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This time, the villagers chased the gunmen who escaped behind a volley of shots fired in the air – in the frenzy, they even shot dead a dog that attacked them.

While all those killed had some ties to militant outfits or separatist hardliners, different narratives have emerged to explain the mystery behind the mayhem.

”We have got vital clues and are connecting the dots,” said Gareeb Das, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), North Kashmir. “We know those who are doing it but we want to collect proper evidence before exposing them,” he added.

”It was cold-blooded murder. The Indian agencies are behind it,” said Tariq Ahmad Bhat, whose brother Khursheed was killed in Bomai on Saturday.

”I saw my brother lying in a pool of blood. A few policemen, who were standing there, offered help. How could they dare kill someone in the presence of a police patrol?” he asked.

Sopore residents claim the killings started after a new outfit ‘Lashkar-e-Islam’ asked telecom operators to wind up their operations.

Again, no one can say for sure. But such is the tension in Sopore that the J&K government and the separatists are rattled.

On Monday, the two Hurriyat factions – led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq – and the Yasin Malik-led JKLF charted out a joint protest plan, calling for a shutdown on Wednesday and a march to Sopore on Friday.

A government spokesman, meanwhile, said Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had taken a “serious view” of the killings and ordered a “time-bound inquiry”.

But behind the allegations, rumours and anger are the only facts available so far – the stories of the victims, and how and where they were killed:

May 25, Rafiq Akbar Haji, 23: The commerce graduate was killed when gunmen targeted his employer, a BSNL franchisee, in Sopore, about 500m from the district police HQ, a Special Ops group camp and a CRPF camp. A resident of Pohru Peth in Kupwara, Rafiq was planning to move to Indore to obtain an M.Com degree.

May 26, Ghulam Hassan Dar, 60: A resident of Dooru village on the outskirts of Sopore, Dar was killed when militants barged into his house and fired indiscriminately. He had leased land to a telecom company to install a cellphone tower. He was part of the Al Jihad militant till he left militancy in 1993. His son Tanveer Ahmad was a Congress sarpanch.

June 9, Sheikh Altaf-ur-Rehman, 46: The government employee was killed when he was returning home after night duty from a hospital in Sopore, where he was a pharmacist. He was a member of the Hurriyat’s Geelani faction and had ties to militant groups, police said. The father of two girls and a boy, Altaf was arrested under the Public Safety Act several times, once in 2008 for allegedly planning an attack on the then CM Ghulam Nabi Azad. He was shot near where Haji, the first victim, was killed.

June 13, Khursheed Ahmad Bhat, 35: A shopkeeper, Bhat was returning home when he was shot dead at Bomai village. Police had registered several cases against him for stone-throwing. A police patrol was present at the spot when the gunmen shot Bhat, his family said.

June 14, Mehraj-ud-din Dar, 38: A resident of Badambagh in Sopore town, Dar was shot dead outside his house on Sunday morning. Dar was briefly linked to the militancy and in 1990, joined pro-independence militant outfit JKLF. He is survived by his wife and three daughters. He was killed about 500m from an Army camp.

June 15, Ajaz Ahmad Reshi, 35: Father of three boys and a girl, the Mundji resident was a former Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant who was arrested in 2007 and released three years later. His family alleged that he was picked up by security officers again, in 2011, for five months. Ajaz was shot dead when went to a local diagnostic centre.