Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The night-long calm after the grenade blast and gunfire last afternooon at Lal Chowk here was broken this morning, when two militants holed up in the hotel appeared in battlegear and took on the security forces.
They opened fire and hurled grenades.
Much before that, police had evacuated all civilians trapped inside Hotel Peak View, where the militants of the suicide squad (fidayeen) were hiding, and people in the adjacent buildings.
Thereafter, police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) started to zero in on the building, and the war started. There was a burst of gunfire followed by calm till the next volley.
One of the militants, later identified by police as Furqan, lobbed a grenade injuring three police personnel. There was firing, followed by a short break. The area within a radius of a few hundred yards of the hotel was guarded by police and CRPF personnel. Beyond this region, it was almost as usual for people since morning. At 10 am, shops started opening, and students were on their way to colleges. It was as if yesterday’s attack had been forgotten. However, a crowd of curious people converged on the area where the action was taking place.
With every hour, the crowd grew bigger and by afternoon hundreds of people had assembled. ‘‘This is exciting,’’ said Ali Mohammad, a 65-year-old shopkeeper. ‘‘Times have changed… now we are not scared of all these.’’ At 12.35, there was a barrage of gunfire. The security forces near the hotel ran for cover, but people, who were at a safe distance, stayed there.
During the next lull, policemen tried to motivate people to go away from the spot, but in vain. At this, CRPF personnel resorted to cane-charge, forcing people to retreat. Some minutes later, the people were back and police blamed mediapersons, stationed 200 metres from the hotel, for it.
‘‘Remove these cameras from here,’’ the Station House Officer (SHO), Maisuma Police Station, shouted at the mediapersons. ‘‘You are causing all the trouble. You are attracting them (the people).’’ A grenade explosion followed by a volley of fire shattered the brief silence. This lasted for a few minutes and the police’s Bomb Disposal Squad, which was camping on M A Road since morning, started moving in, announcing the end of the 25-hour-long encounter. And at the end, the casualty figures read: Six including two securitymen dead, 16 injured.
The security forces, for the first time, managed to capture a fidayeen during the gunbattle. The other militant was killed. At 5 pm the area was opened to allow media and public, and everybody rushed towards the hotel.
