Shopian to Mumbai: Tale of two realities

But the Lashkar taint matters little here in Teng Mohalla, home of Wani, who came from a prosperous family. As soon as his body was brought from Srinagar airport to Shopian bus terminal — the Wanis stay nearby — the entire village responded with a shutdown and proceeded to his house.

All hell broke loose as the body, in a coffin but with a highly decomposed face uncovered, was carried for burial. The funeral procession, which meandered through the village for the ‘‘Namaz-e-Jenaza’’ at Jamia mosque, soon turned into a protest as people raised pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. ‘‘Jeeve Jeevei Pakistan (Long live Pakistan), Advani terrorist no. 1,’’ a group of youth who led the funeral procession shouted. They did not spare the Chief Minister either, shouting: ‘‘Mufti’s healing touch not required.’’

‘‘He was no militant,’’ said an angry Mohammad Amin, a villager. ‘‘The tragedy of Kashmiris is that they can easily be categorised as militants even if they are simple engineers.’’

The Mumbai police say Wani was anything but a simple computer engineer. He had gone to Dubai, received arms training, and with his Pakistani colleagues in the Lashkar, was in Mumbai en route to finding targets in South India.

Wani was running the Rose Computer Centre at Shopian, affiliated to the Royal Computer Engineering College based in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. To the villagers, it’s just another custodial killing. Wani was on a ‘‘business visit’’ to Mumbai, the villagers say, and was in touch with his family. Well, at least till March 24. There was no contact since. In Mumbai, police say they were hot on the trail of Wani for at least three days before the encounter.

At Rose Computer Centre, Wani’s former colleague said: ‘‘He was highly affable. I don’t think he had any leaning towards militancy.’’

‘‘What healing touch are they preaching?’’ asked a village elder. ‘‘Kashmiris are dying everywhere. Few days back it was the turn of Kashmiri Hindus at Nadimarg. Today it is Iqbal in Maharashtra. Tomorrow, somewhere else.’’ Another joined in: ‘‘Let us suppose he was a militant. Is this the way to kill him, extra-judicially?’’ He doesn’t believe a word about the gunfight.