Protests in Valley over arrest of elderly villager

On June 30, a militant hiding in a shopping complex in Bandipora market opened fire at a Rashtriya Rifles RR patrol. Later, the complex was cordoned off. The RR men and Lt Colonel V R Chouhan took two shopkeepers, Abid Shah and Manzoor Ahmad, along for an inspection of the complex. But a militant, who was hiding in the top floor, opened fire killing Lt Col Chouhan on the spot. This led to a fierce gunbattle in which two shopkeepers also lost their lives.

Though the RR claimed that all the three were militants, the J-K Police did not buy the version.

The local population too insisted that the two had no link to militancy and were taken inside the building by the army officer.

However, the RR personnel yesterday rounded up an elderly man, Saifullah Shah, father of one the shopkeers killed in the incident, from Papchan village. The army claimed that a Pika gun was recovered from him. 8216;8216;He Shah led the troops to a hideout where a Pika gun was recovered,8217;8217; a spokesman of Army8217;s 15 Corps said. 8216;8216;He has been handed over to the police.8217;8217;

The villagers, however, accuse the RR personnel of taking revenge from the villager because they think that his son was a militant. 8216;8216;It is a lie. We know this family very well. They RR were after him right from the day his son was killed,8217;8217; said Abdul Rashid, a villager in Papchan. 8216;8216;This is revenge and nothing else.8217;8217;

The villagers, meanwhile, blocked the Bandipore-Srinagar road at Papchan to protest the arrest and 8216;8216;framing8217;8217; of Shah.