J&K: Jawan abducted by militants dead; bullet-ridden body found

Srinagar: An off-duty Army jawan was killed by suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Shop-ian district overnight, the police said on Saturday.  This is the 6th such incident in the restive Valley in the past seven months.  

The bullet-riddled corpse of 23-year-old Territorial Army soldier Irfan Ahmed Dar, who had gone missing on Friday evening, was found in Shopian’s Wuthmulla Naad village on Saturday morning, the police said.

Locals said that they saw Dar’s body lying near a paddy field and immediately informed the police. He was wearing a pheran, traditional woollen robe. The police said he had been shot multiple times.

The jawan was a resident of Shopian’s Sanzan village and was posted in the Army’s Engineering Regiment in Gurez area close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Bandipore district. A defence spokesperson here said that Dar, a 175 Territorial Army official, was to return to his duty on November 26.

SSP Shopian Ambarkar Shriram said that Dar was apparently abducted and subsequently murdered by militants. “We have taken up investigations. It appears to be a case of kidnapping and murder and we suspect terrorists are involved,” he said. No militant outfit active in J&K has, so far, claimed responsibility for killing Dar.

The deceased’s family told the police that Dar had come home on vacation. They said that he had left home in his car on Friday evening and did not return. His vehicle was found one kilometre from the place where his body was found on Saturday morning, the police said.

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was touring neighbouring Kulgam district as part of her “public outreach”, condemned Dar’s murder. She tweeted, “Strongly condemn the brutal killing of Irfan Ahmed, a brave Territorial Army soldier at Shopian. Such heinous acts will not weaken our resolve to establish peace and normalcy in the Valley”.

Her predecessor and Opposition National Conference (NC) working president, Omar Abdullah, also took to the micro-blogging site to condemn the killing. He wrote, “The murder of young Irfan Dar is a very tragic & reprehensible act. My unqualified condemnation & heartfelt condolences to his family”.

Dar is the sixth off-duty security personnel to have been killed by militants in Kashmir this year.

On October 18, a Special Police Officer (SPO), Abdul Haleem Kohli, was shot dead from point-blank range by suspected militants outside his house in Gutroo village of Tral in southern Pulwama district.

On October 1, a J&K police head-constable, Ashiq Hussain, was shot dead by two gunmen at a marriage ceremony in Pulwama’s Padgampora village. The victim, working as “munshi” at Pulwama’s Awantipora police station, was on leave to attend the marriage of a close relative when targeted.

A week before that, a Border Security Force (BSF) official, Muhammad Ramzan Parray, was killed and four of his family members injured in a militant attack in Hajin area of Bandipore district. Parray, an official of the BSF’s 73rd Battalion, was posted in Singhpora area of neighbouring Baramulla district and had come home on holiday when the militants attacked him with a knife before shooting him dead. His father Ghulam Ahmad Parray, brothers Muhammad Afzal and Javaid Ahmed and paternal aunt Habla Begum were injured in the attack.

On June 15, a J&K policeman, Shabir Ahmed Dar, was shot dead from point-blank range by assailants in Bogund village of Kulgam district.

On May 9, Ummer Fayaz Parray, a 22-year-old officer with Army’s 2 Rajputana Rifles, was on leave when he was abducted by two masked gunmen from the wedding of his cousin in Batpora village, Kulgam district. Next morning, his bullet-riddled corpse was found in Harmain area of neighbouring Shopian district.

In March and April this year, the Valley had witnessed a series of militant attacks at policemen and their families following which the police department had issued an advisory asking its field personnel to avoid visiting their homes “for the next few months”.

“They should preferably avoid visiting their homes for the next few months as their personal security is of paramount importance,” the advisory had said. It also asked all the heads of various formations to brief their officers and men regarding the threat so the life and property of police personnel were secured.