What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr’s cause has ever been stilled by an assassin’s bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled or uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people: Robert Kennedy
By the evening of 29th August 2018 corpses of many young men were held by the arms of their loved ones, and this incessant rage ignited by a foreign ideology, which without any doubt, is contrary to the basic ideals of Kashmiriyat, is all set to consume many more lives, as it has been consuming since, the insurgency erupted in late 80’s.
Today an audio message was released by Hizbul Mujahideen, its operational Commander Riyaz Naikoo alleged that Indian forces have started harassing innocent people as they are prepare for holding the panchayat elections. “Those people who are thinking about participating in the polls… They along with election forms should also get shrouds,’’ he warned.
He said the militants have already got acid and those taking part in elections should remain prepare for that. Naikoo had earlier also warned political workers and others about participating in the elections, saying those who will take part will be blinded by pouring acid in their eyes so they will become burden on their families.
“We are not afraid of forces, what we have to do, we will do that,’’ he said adding that army used to lay an ambush outside the house of Shameema Bano of Koil, Pulwama who was involved in leaking information about militant Sameer Tiger to protect her . “But how long did the forces manage to protect her,’’ he asked, referring to her being shot dead earlier in August.
Naikoo said that militants can kill anybody at any place. “We don’t have personal animosity with anybody, but the people who will work against our struggle or sacrifice will be punished.’’
Last year, as Army made public the list of top militants in Kashmir, One among the top five was Altaf Kachroo, one of the few senior militants working in south Kashmir since 2005.
Joint forces were looking for Altaf for a long time, as part of ‘killing the commanders’ strategy.
Though he had managed to slip from the encounter sites a number of times in the past, today the forces zeroed in at the exact location,and was killed. What raises the eyebrows is the precise information the security forces were able to gather and consequently apprehensions of inter group rivalry cannot be ruled out. Since Altaf belonged to old school militants who restrained themselves from issuing direct threats to civilians, thus a fair reason for the contradiction. Newgen militants are quite net savvy and have been using the internet to their advantage by uploading their photographs and videos on social media Unlike the older commanders, who would not record audio and video messages.
Giving details, a spokesman of the police said that based on a specific intelligence, Jammu and Kashmir police along with other security forces launched the search operation at Muniward village of Khanabal area in the district at the crack of the dawn.
“During the searches, terrorists fired on the search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter and in the ensuing encounter two terrorists were eliminated. The killed terrorists were identified as Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Ataf Kachroo alias Moin of Hawoora Mishipora and Omar Rashid Wani of Khudwani Kulgam,” the spokesman said.
He said Dar, who also hails from Kulgam in South Kashmir, was currently operating as a one of the most important terrorist Commander of proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and had a long history of criminal records since 2007.
“It was a specific operation carried out swiftly by the security forces. In the action both terrorists, who were involved in several cases of civilian atrocities and attacks on policemen, were eliminated,” Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani said here.
Considered as a long time surviving terrorist in the area, Dar was involved in series of terror crimes in the area which included attacks on the security forces and killings of civilians and policemen in South Kashmir.
One of the police officials, who was involved in the operation, described him as a ‘chief architect’ of attacks on policemen.
The police spokesman also said that Dar along with his associate Yasin Itoo played a major role in instigating people during 2016 unrest which was sparked after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen’s poster boy Burhan Wani.
The other militant killed in the encounter was Omar Rashid Wani, who had become active since last year.
The spokesman said he was involved in many civilian atrocities and attacks on security establishments.
Wani was also involved in killing of policemen at Anantnag and recently he carried an attack on CRPF in Srinagar and managed to give a slip during the recent Batmaloo encounter site.
The spokesman said though the two were part of the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group, they managed to keep close coordination with other outfit for unleashing terror.
And then another heart_breaking news came in the afternoon …Four policemen were killed , in a terrorist attack in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir,
The incident took place at Bonagam in Shopian, a police officer said.
A team has been formed to investigate the incident, police officer told PTI.
“Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.” ~ Martin Luther King