Death won’t deter

The Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government today put up a brave front at the funeral of its legislator Abdul Aziz Mir — who was assasinated b...

The Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government today put up a brave front at the funeral of its legislator Abdul Aziz Mir — who was assasinated by militants yesterday — and vowed to continue its ‘‘healing touch’’ policy to restore peace with dignity in the state.

The renewed spat of violence, however, continued with alleged LeT militants killing four members of a family, including a six-year-old child, in a village near Sopore late last night.

‘‘Hum aag bhujanay niklay hain, haath to jal hi jayengay (We are out to douse the fires, our hands will of course burn),’’ said Mehbooba Mufti, the fire-brand People’s Democratic Party leader and the architect of this ‘‘bridge-building’’ strategy with the separatists.

CM’s rivals killed MLA: Hurriyat

SRINAGAR: Condemning the killing of Abdul Aziz Mir, the Hurriyat Conference on Saturday said enemies of CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed carried out the assassination to push the CM to the wall. ‘‘Those who killed the MLA want to deal a blow to Mufti’s healing touch policy. The PDP has been making efforts to bring some kind of relief to the people. The party’s enemies could have killed Mir to frustrate Mufti’s efforts,’’ said Moulvi Abbas Ansari, senior Hurriyat Conference leader. (ENS)

‘‘Our healing touch policy has not failed. Today, we have four more orphans and we want to put an end to this,’’ she said. Mehbooba had flown in to attend the funeral this afternoon and was accompanied by senior minister and party legislators.

At a meeting in Srinagar today attended by party MLAs, the PDP said it will not be cowed down by the designs of ‘‘elements inimical to peace’’. ‘‘We have taken a vow to take the party’s programme to restore peace and work for permanent resolution of the Kashmir issue to its logical end. We will not hesitate to render sacrifices for this,’’ the party said.

Abdul Aziz Mir, the PDP legislator from Pampore, was assassinated last afternoon when a militant took out his silencer-fitted pistol and fired at him as soon as he emerged out of the local mosque after offering Friday prayers. The militant had made good his escape even as Mir was accompanied by his personal security guards.

Shocked at this first blow, Mehbooba was taken straight to the tent where Mir’s body was placed to enable the people to pay their last respects. The agitated villagers, mostly women, received her with emotional outburst. ‘‘Katil ko paish karo (Produce the assailant),’’ the crowd demanded as Mehbooba had a last look at her colleague.

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Asked if the assasination did not signal that militants had decided not to reciprocate the healing touch gesture, she said: ‘‘Our policy is not for any particular section of the society but for bringing relief to the common masses in the state and we will continue with our policy.’’

Around a thousand people, mostly women, had gathered at Mir’s residence to mourn their leaders’ death. ‘‘He (Mir) was innocent and still he was killed,’’ said Shafi Bhat, a neighbour.

As the villagers mourned Mir’s death, this small village explained the irony of Kashmir. Not a single villager spoke against the militants even as many talked about the assailant in whispers. ‘‘There were three more militants accompanying the assailant and they were in the village till late in the evening yesterday. They were perhaps waiting for darkness to descend and escape,’’ a villager said as he looked around to make sure nobody listened.

The police are hoping to crack the case soon. ‘‘This murder has a local connection. We are waiting for the funeral to end before speeding up our probe,’’ SP, Awantipora, V. Kumar said.

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In another incident late last night, a group of alleged LeT militants barged into the house of a villager, Ghulam Qadir Dar, in Reban village near Sopore and opened indiscriminate firing, killing three members of his family.