Shot by militants, Mufti kin dies

Local police say they have identified two suspects and believe that the attack was carried out in retaliation for the killing of a militant commander in the area recently.

Qazi Mohammad Afzal, Minister for Public Health Engineering, told reporters that it was a ‘‘political killing’’.

Today, as Shah’s body was lowered into the grave, his daughter watched silently, while mourners remained tightlipped about the attack. ‘‘We don’t know, who killed him,’’ says one of them, 65-year-old Mohammad Ismail Bhat. ‘‘He was a pious person. We prayed together last evening and I don’t know what happened after that.’’

Shah was shot dead as he was returning from his neighbourhood mosque, a few metres from his house, after attending evening prayers. As he approached his house, two unidentified gunmen shot at him from point-blank range, injuring him critically.

Says Ghulam Hassan Sheikh, caretaker of the nearby Baba Naseeb-ud-din Gazi shrine: ‘‘I offered the prayers and was entering the shrine when I heard some shots. I thought children were bursting firecrackers. Suddenly, some people rushed towards Shah’s house. I followed and saw him lying on the ground. Just a few minutes before, we had offered prayers together.’’

Shah, the eldest among the CM’s sister’s three sons, was a contractor and is survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons. The eldest, daughter Nazbu Atiq, is a college student and the youngest, son Muneeb Ahmad, is in Class 2.

‘‘He had no political connections. He was a contractor and I am not able to comprehend who killed him and why,’’ says Peerzada Arshad Hussain, Shah’s nephew.

CM Sayeed today visited Bijbehara to express solidarity with the bereaved family, accompanied by senior ministers, including Afzal, Abdul Rehman Veeri and Abdul Aziz Zargar.

Shah, whose house is close to the CM’s ancestral residence in Bijbehera, had not asked for security, says Qazi Shams, Station House Officer, Bijbehara.

‘‘We have two suspects. But we are investigating the case and identifying them would be premature. It can be related to the killing of a top militant commander in the area recently,’’ says Shams.

BSF jawans kill colleagues

SRINAGAR/KOLKATA: IN a fit of rage, a BSF jawan shot dead his senior before allegedly committing suicide in a forest in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Constable Sanjay Kumar, overcome with anger on being reprimanded by head constable P K Goswami for dereliction of duty, opened at Kanzalwan camp in Gurez sector on Saturday night.

In another incident, a BSF jawan shot dead two of his colleagues before killing himself at Ramnagar border outpost in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Monday. His motives are not known , a senior officer said. —ENS