Hundreds of wailing women joined men in central Kashmir’s Budgam on Sunday to participate in the last rites of a policeman and his brother who were fired upon by militants inside their house on Saturday evening.
Special Police Officer (SPO) Ishfaq Dar was fired upon from a close range and died immediately after an attack by militants in Chattabugh, Budgam. Dar’s younger brother Umar, who was shot twice in the abdomen in a bid to save him, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday morning.
Women, many bearing toffees and flower petals, joined men at the graveyard, with several beating their chest over the, “unjustified killing of innocent people”.
“My brother (Umar) had just completed his graduation. He was an innocent and harmless person. Why don’t they (militants) kill us all and take our house too. Else, tell us what they did?” a family member said.
The intra-Kashmir train service was halted “as a precautionary measure”. Police said the train service was stopped at Mazhama and Budgam “because the house of the deceased is near the tracks”.
Earlier, a wreath laying ceremony was held at the District Police Lines, Budgam. Top police officials, including Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar, visited the victims’ family.
“We pay our rich tributes to the martyr for his supreme sacrifice made in the line of duty and stand by his family at this crucial juncture,” the police said, in a statement.
Earlier this year, two off-duty security personnel, including an Army soldier and a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan, were killed by militants in their villages in the valley.
Political parties in Jammu & Kashmir, including the National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Peoples Conference, condemned the brothers’ killing.
“In Kashmir, we watch helplessly as young lives are snuffed out. Death and destruction have become the norm. Sadly, the GOI (Government of India) doesn’t seem to care since Kashmiri lives have little value for them,” PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said.
J&K Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir termed the incident as “gruesome and mindless”.
Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference (PC) also described the killings as “barbaric”. “How inhumanely the terror is wiping our younger generation,” the PC said.
