Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR, Aug 21: Police in Kashmir have arrested two persons, including a constable, who they say are involved in all the militancy-related attacks in last 18 months in capital Srinagar.
“We have arrested two persons making claims for militant attacks in Srinagar city over the past one-and-a-half years. One of them is a policeman while another is a released militant,” Inspector general of Police (Kashmir) SM Sahai said.
This is for the second time this year that police have arrested their own for having links with militants in Kashmir, where tens of thousands have died in conflict involving security forces and armed rebels but now violence was declining.
Sahai said constable Abdul Rashid Shigan alias Umar Mukhtar and Imtiyaz Ahmed Gojri were running the Islamic Movement of Kashmir, a two-member militant group and had procured weapons from another militant, Haq Naqaz, who was killed recently. Shigan had been discharged from duty while a trainee for militant links, but was reinstated on orders from court, he said.
“We have recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition from the residence of Shigan which included three AK rifles, four pistols and Under Barrel Grenade Launchers.”
The arrested persons are said to be involved in the death of four policemen, three of them officers: Inspector Shabir Ahmed (shot dead at Bemina), Assistant Sub-Inspector Sukhpal Singh (shot dead at Darish Kadal) and Abdul Hamid Bhat, a retired Deputy Superintendent who was shot dead at Batmalloo eleven days ago.
Another constable was killed during an attack on Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar in December last, Sahai said.
He said the two had also carried out grenade attacks on an army camp and the Civil Secretariat in the city recently and were also involved in the killing of a worker of the ruling National Conference party.
“These incidents gave an impression that militancy was on rise, but it is not correct. Statistically also the number of incidents has come down compared to last year,” Sahai said.
On June 16, Jammu and Kashmir police said it had arrested three constables, Mukhtar Sheikh, Mohammed Abbas and Riyaz Ahmed, for their alleged links with militants. Subsequently, another cop, Muhammad Illyass who was working with the investigation wing of the state police was also arrested on the same charges.
Police claimed that the four constables were on a mission to orchestrate attacks to create chaos in the state, where, authorities say, militancy-related violence was on a decline.
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