Ex-ikhwan held after men fire on villagers

8220;The villagers had come out to protest this, and when they saw Papa Kishtwari approach, they tried to attack his vehicle. His guards opened fire, injuring a few villagers,8221; said Senior Superintendent of Police Awantipore Sardar Khan. 8220;We rushed to the spot and arrested him.8221;

Said Deputy Commissioner Pulwama Mehraj-ud-din Kakroo, 8220;In the morning, a bulldozer had arrived, and this was resented by the local people, resulting in the incident.8221;

However, he described Kishtwari as having 8220;vested interests8221; which he pushed through on the pretext of helping people. He said Kishtwari had built some shops after encroaching upon the road which was demolished by the authorities. Encroachments by Saif Neelam, proprietor of a major Kashmiri business house, were being removed, he said.

Many police officers speak of a paradigm shift in militancy, with militants or former militants offering their muscle and influence.

Kishtwari used to operate in south Kashmir, where villagers accuse him of extra-judicial killings during his reign as an Ikhwan commander and an important deputy of slain ikhwan founder Kuka Parrey. Kishtwari 8212; whose real name is Ghulam Rasool Shah 8212; had been a junior officer in CRPF before the onset of militancy in 1990. According to police records, he had joined Al-Jihad militant outfit and was arrested in 1993. He was released after 21 months of jail to join the counter-insurgent ikhwan.

Many members of ikhwan, a counter insurgency outfit backed by the government, have joined politics or become toughs for political parties.