First Hindu militant gets ‘martyr’ burial

Kuldip, along with seven other militants, was killed during an encounter at Puneja in Bhaderwah tehsil of Doda district.

‘‘As he had joined the militants, we asked the Muslims to do whatever they wanted to do with his body,’’ said Gambhir Chand, Kuldip’s uncle. Interestingly, Gambhir’s son Baldev is also a militant and is at present a self-styled sector commander of Hizbul Mujahideen. Lal Chand, Kuldip’s father, is away in Punjab.

While Kuldip’s elder brother Balkrishan expressed ignorance as to why he joined militant ranks, locals alleged police atrocities drove him towards it. Local police officers, however, said Kuldip and Baldev were petty criminals who had crossed the LoC for ‘‘militant training’’.

However, locals point out loopholes in the police version, saying the cousins belonged to families which were themselves victims of militant violence. They had migrated from Badni to Puneja due to fear of militants nearly two years ago.

This gets substantiated even from the version of Gambhir, who said his son Baldev was abducted by militants when he had taken cattle to the nearby forests for grazing. ‘‘When he escaped from captivity and reached home after 10 days, I took him to the nearby security forces’ camp for questioning. He was kept there for two months and then handed over to the Bhaderwah police,’’ he added.

‘‘A week later, when I checked with the SHO about his status, he asked me to take him home,’’ Gambhir said. ‘‘I planned to purchase two ponies to make him earn a livelihood, but he was picked up by the State Task Force immediately after we reached home. I don’t know what happened later as he never returned after he was let off,’’ he said, adding Kuldip also disappeared two months later. ‘‘We came to know both had joined militant ranks,’’ he said. Since then they have had no contact with either of them.

Police said they were persuading Gambhir to convince Baldev to surrender. Gambhir, however, expressed helplessness. ‘‘To bring my son, I had gone to Ramdund forests last year. On reaching there, I spotted Baldev with two foreign militants who threatened to kill me if I talked to him. I returned,’’ he said, adding that was the last time he had seen his son.