3 PDP men shot in CM constituency

‘‘Everybody is scared. These are the first such killing in our area,’’ said Mohammad Ramzan, who lives close to the willow nursery in Nowbug Veeri where two PDP activists — Gul Mohammad Bhat (50) and Abdul Gani Sheikh (60) — were shot dead on Friday evening.

‘‘It was already dark. I was at home. We heard gun shots and then there was pin drop silence,’’ Ramzan said. ‘‘We didn’t move out, it was scary.’’ The bodies lay on the road next to a stream for 30 minutes.

The third person to die was Gul Mohammed Mirab (60). A local businessman, he was returning home from his shop in Bijbehara market when he was felled.

Bhat and Sheikh had been associated with Mufti’s party for a long time. On Friday, Sheikh had come to meet Bhat. ‘‘He used to come to our house often. They sat chatting here for some time and then he (Shiekh) left. My father accompanied him. He would always walk with him till the village outskirts,’’ said Nisar Ahmad, Bhat’s son.

Nisar’s convinced why his father was targeted: ‘‘They were killed because they were affiliated with the PDP.’’ His uncle Ali Mohammad was extremely bitter: ‘‘Mufti sahib and other PDP leaders are neighbours and there’s hardly anybody here who’s not linked to them one way or the other. It’s shocking that ordinary people, who don’t live under security cover, are killed because militants are not happy with the government.’’

Nisar’s unemployed while his brother is a constable in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and is currently stationed in Hyderabad. Bhat’s house lies at the centre of this hamlet, surrounded by mud houses with thatched roofs.

The compound’s full of women in mourning. ‘‘They (the militants) should have at least warned us. He (Bhat) would have left politics,’’ a woman sobbed.