At about 9.30 on Wednesday night, Mohammad Ashraf Dar quietly ventured out of his house in ChanKhan locality of Sopore town. But, his mother saw him talking on cellular phone while moving out. “We presumed that he was talking to his fiancee,” says a family member.
Dar the eldest among three siblings, including two sisters, had been engaged last week and had plans to solemnize his marriage in near future.
At about 10.15, the silent night was broken by a volley of bullets that triggered panic among the residents. Then there was silence. “We first thought a gun-battle had broken but minutes later the gunfire stopped,” says a local Zubair Khan.
Asharaf’s father, Ghulam Ahmad Dar, who works as a sweeper, tried to venture out but was stopped by the family members. They too thought that a gun-battle had broken out so choose to stay indoors and wait for Ashraf to return.
Till the crack of the dawn, he didnt return and his family went out in search. His bullet ridden body was found few hundred meters away away from his house near Krankshivan Colony.
Ashraf, 28, belonged to a poor family and worked as a labourer at a band saw mill. “He was the only one to have a cellular phone in our family. We could not call him,” says a relative.
“My son has done nothing, he is innocent,” says Ashraf’s mother Sara Begum at her modest house on Muslim Educational Trust road in Sopore.
His body was taken by police for post mortem and later returned to the family for final rites.
“Police recovered a bullet-ridden body of a band saw labourer near Krankshivan Colony, Sopore. A case has been registered in this regard,” a police official said.
Ashraf’s killing comes five days after Mohsin Wani, 35, a businessman was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kralteng locality of the town.
Despite resentment, protests and strong condemnations from pro-freedom and pro-India parties, the killings at the hands of unknown gunmen have continued in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district since the begining of year.
In the last six months, shockingly, at least eight people, including two teenage sisters were killed and four injured by mysterious gunmen.
The cycle of the killings by the ‘unknown gunmen’ started from one-room house in Muslim Peer locality of Sopore on the evening of January 31. The victims- Kulsuma, 19 and Rehana, 17 were dragged from their house and shot dead in the neighboring Mohalla Rahim Sahab.
The killing led to a blame game between police and the militants. While police accused Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) for the siblings’ killings and even identified the militants involved, the latter rejected the police claims and suspected the hand of the government agencies.
Amid charges and counter charges, the police on March 13, claimed to have killed Lashkar militant, Waseem Ahmad Ganai ‘responsible’ for the sisters’ killing.
Ten days after Muslim Peer killings, unidentified gunmen shot at and injured two youth in two different shootouts in the Apple town.
Majid Ahmad, son of Bashir Ahmad Khan of Badam Bagh was shot at and injured in Chotta Bazar area while Mohammad Arif, son of Abdul Gaffar Reshi of Watlab was fired upon near the Sopore bus stand.
On the evening of February 15, the horror of unknown gunmen visited Kreeri area of the district.
Two girls, including a minor were injured after being shot at by unidentified pistol-borne men in Duderhama village of Kreeri.
The girls, Shaista, 18, daughter of Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Akhoon and 6-year-old Monisa, miraculously survived in the shootout.
The police arrested three people, including Shaista’s sister-in-law, Haseena Badroo for hatching the conspiracy with the help of pro-government gunmen, popularly known as Ikhwanis.
On February 28, unidentified gunmen again resurfaced in Kreeri. Their target: A businessman. Haji Nazir Ahmad Lone, 45, son of Mohammad Abdullah of Thindam was shot dead from close range inside his office in broad day light.
The locals took to streets demanding the identification of the ‘unidentified killers’.
As the police probed the incident, starling revelations came into the light. The killing, according to the police was carried out by Lone’s competitor to settle personal scores.
Interestingly, in this ‘contract killing’ plot, the names of former militants and police sources surfaced surprising even the police department.\
Twenty-one-year old, Sajad Ahmad Dar, son of Abdul Rahman Dar of Kraleteng was the third victim of unknown gunmen this year.
A school drop-out, Sajad was shot dead near Mohalla Rahim Sahib, Sopore on April 10.
Fourteen days after Sajad’s killing, unidentified gunmen again stuck in Kreeri village killing an Imam.
Hafiz Mohammad Ashraf Lone, 30, of Chattipora, Sopore was shot in the head, three days after he reportedly went missing. The killing was widely condemned across political circles.
However, the condemnations and the calls for probe did not put an end to the killings.
On the evening of April 30, unidentified gunmen appeared in Chankhan locality of the Apple town and shot at and critically injured Shams ud din Parray, 24, son of Ghulam Hassan.
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