Caught in crossfire

Under three giant walnut trees, where a grave was being dug, a village wailed and seethed in anger. Yards away lay the body of Nazir Ahmad D...

Under three giant walnut trees, where a grave was being dug, a village wailed and seethed in anger. Yards away lay the body of Nazir Ahmad Dar, a 35-year-old labourer, who was among the four killed by security forces when a militant, disguised as a passenger, shot a jawan.

When the casket was put down, Dar8217;s wife shouted: 8216;8216;His crime was that he was bringing up a very poor family. That is why they troopers shot him dead.8217;8217; As she flung herself to the ground, her four children looked on anxiously.

A labourer from Arampora, Dar also sold cloth at a kiosk in the neighbouring Tral township. 8216;8216;Today, when he was leaving for Tral, we heard gunshots which lasted for almost an hour. Later, when the soldiers came, we learnt that he Dar and two women were killed,8217;8217; said Ramzan. He and some of the village elders had rushed to the fields to retrieve the body. 8216;8216;They shot him dead despite his pleas that he was a civilian,8217;8217; a villager said.

The incident happened when a passenger bus on its way from Awantipore to Tral was stopped at a Rashtriya Rifles check-point.

8216;8216;The Army8217;s mobile party that searches vehicles for militants had asked people to come down from the bus for verification and when people were doing so, one Abdul Rashid Bhat started running,8217;8217; said Defence spokesman Lt Col V.K. Batra.

8216;8216;When he was challenged, he took out a pistol and shot at our jawan. In the cross-fire, the militant and two women were killed. Two injured civilians and the soldier were later taken to hospital,8217;8217; he said. Batra was not aware of Dar8217;s death.

The police have a different story. 8216;8216;While the militant was killed by troops of the 42 RR after its jawan was shot by the militant, two women in the bus and a civilian were killed in the indiscriminate firing by BSF personnel,8217;8217; said SP, Awantipore, Sheikh Mehmood.

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Mehmood said Dar was not killed near the check-point. 8216;8216;It was another party of the BSF, which was engaged in an encounter at the neighbouring Medura village. They BSF men took Dar as a militant and shot him dead,8217;8217; he said.

The police have registered a separate case against the BSF. The BSF denied the charges. 8216;8216;We were not involved at all,8217;8217; said DIG, BSF, Virender Kumar.