Just last month, this 27-year-old car mechanic was stretched out on a bed, medics hovering nearby, donating his blood for tsunami victims.Today, Zahoor Ahmed Bhat was stretched out once again, in a local hospital. He had bled to death last night, gunned down by BSF personnel as he was coming home from a break in Gulmarg with two friends. BSF officials say they fired at the black Maruti car that Bhat was driving after he failed to stop the vehicle on their command. A gun was also fired from the car, they add. However, local police at Magam, where the shooting happened, have denied that the BSF were fired upon. One of Bhat’s friends, who was with him, says they didn’t even see the BSF signal due to fog. And the truth, IGP Kashmir Range Javaid Maqhdoomi says, will emerge after investigations—police have registered a case. Small consolation though, for Bhat’s family. Says Bhat’s younger brother, Shabir Ahmad: ‘‘He (Bhat) was a groom. He was getting married in a month. I had seen him leave smiling, he was very happy. I couldn’t recognise him when they brought his body.We were looking forward to his marriage and see what happened. He is now in the grave.’’ Bhat’s friends—Ajaz Ahmad Khan (25) and Noor-ud-din Dar (30)—were luckier, if you could call it that. Dar’s struggling for life in a hospital, his nose chopped off by a bullet. Khan had one bullet brush past his eyebrow and the rest hit his legs. Says Khan: ‘‘It was around 3-3.30 pm and there was fog all around. We were chatting and driving fast. We didn’t see the soldiers asking us to stop. Suddenly, something hit us. They (BSF) had fired at the car. I was in the rear seat. I saw the window glasses breaking and something like hot needles penetrating my forehead and legs. I ducked. I don’t know how the car stopped. I somehow opened the window and ran away.’’ When the Magam police arrived at the scene later, they found Khan and Bhat, his skull, chest and legs smashed by bullets. Police say they tried to save him but it was too late. According to BSF spokesman, V S Manhas, personnel from the 50 Battalion had signalled at Bhat’s car. ‘‘They failed to stop. Then there was pistol fire and the jawans fired at the car in retaliation. When the jawans went to check, they found two injured persons and one of them died later.’’ Manhas claimed that there were five men in the car, three of whom ran away. When asked whether a pistol was fired from the car, Manhas said ‘‘it is not clear.’’ Did the BSF party recover a pistol from the injured men? ‘‘No,’’ said the BSF spokesman. According to IGP Maqhdoomi: ‘‘The BSF is saying that they were fired upon from the car. We are trying to verify it. One thing is certain that they (Bhat and his friends) were driving very fast’’. Magam police are clear that the BSF men were not fired upon. ‘‘That’s not true,’’ a police official there told The Indian Express. Meanwhile, in Bhat’s house, a loud wail breaks the silence. ‘‘It’s our mother. She can’t even cry,’’ says Bhat’s brother. ‘‘Just a month ago, he (Bhat) had donated blood for the victims of tsunami. See how they have reciprocated.’’
