Lal Chowk Encounter: Separatists pay tributes to slain fidayeen

Srinagar, Jan 08: The family members of a Sopore youth Manzoor alias Usmaan, who died in a 28-hour long gunfight in Lal Chowk yesterday, alleged that the highhandedness committed by the troopers during the 2008 Amarnath land row agitation prompted him to join the Fidayeen ranks.

Manzoor along with another Fidayeen was killed in the Lal Chowk encounter. His body was brought to his home town - Peth Seer, Sopore on late Thursday night. Later, thousands of people attended his Nimaz-e-Jinaza amidst pro-freedom, anti-indian army, and anti-India slogans.

Manzoor’s family claims that he joined militant outfit-Lashker-e-Toiba, one and a half year ago when the valley was up in flames during Amarnath land row agitation.

“He was class 9th drop out and worked as a painter to sustain his poor family. During the 2008 Amarnath Land row agitation, he alongwith thousands of people of the area participated in the protest demonstrations to express resentment over the transfer of forest land to Amarnath Shrine Board. On August 11, 2008, he joined the “Muzafarabad Chalo March” and saw the troopers firing on unarmed protestors, beating women and children,” said Manzoor’s uncle, Mohammad Akbar.

He said the highhandedness and excesses committed by the troopers changed his mind-set and prompted him to join the Fidayeen Ranks.

His father, Ghulam Rasool said Manzoor used to frequently talk about the excesses committed by the troopers during the “Muzafarabad Chalo March”. “Manzoor used to offer five-time prayers and recite Holy Quran daily in the morning. One the second day of Ramdan he told us that he will join NGO for some time. We allowed him for the sake of his happiness. However, I was aware about his intentions as his mindset has changed radically after Muzaffarabad Chalo March. After leaving home, he never returned. He had joined Lashkar-e-Toiba and we saw him with an AK-47 rifle after six months when he came to meet us,” said Ghulam Rasool.

He said owing to intense pressure from security and intelligence agencies, they had urged Manzoor to surrender and live a normal life but of no avail. “The security agencies harassed me and my family members after Manzoor’s refusal to surrender,” said father of the slain youth.

Manzoor’s mother Hafiza Begum, said she had a firm belief that her son is a martyr. “The death is inevitable but my son died too young. He was only 21 years old. It was the time when he could have enjoyed his life but alas he preferred death,” she mourns.

The family said that they saw Manzoor two days before his death. “Two days before his death he came to home and met all family members and had a cup of tea. He refused to stay for a longer duration and told us that he has some urgent work and had to leave the place as soon as possible,” said his grandfather, Ali Mohammad.

He said on Wednesday evening security forces came to their residence and informed them that Manzoor was trapped in an encounter in Lal Chowk. “They asked us for his contact number and told us that they will let us talk to him,” added grandpa of slain Fidayeen.

Hurriyat Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front on Friday paid tributes to armed freedom fighters who were killed in Lal Chowk gunbattle. According to a statement meeting chaired by acting General Secretary Feroze Ahmad Khan paid tributes to the freedom fighters.

"We will not allow the blood of these martyars go waste. They sacrifice for our future. We continue to strive for safeguarding the movement till its logical conclusion," said the Hurriyat members.

"The best tribute to the martyars," the Hurriyat (G) spokesperson said," will be to support the demand for right to self-determination without any compromise."

Hurriyat Chairman Ali Shah Gilani who was perated on his right eye in New Delhi, also paid rich tributes to the slain fideeyens. National Front Chairman, Nayeem Khan visted the residence of slain fiydeen. " The armed rebellion was a compulsion for the youth of Jammu and Kashmir. Our movement is neither a terrorist movemnet nor it just a border dispute between India and Pakistan," said Nayeem while addressing a gathering on the occasion. Stressing on the importance of United Jehad Council's role in resolving issue, Khan sid, " the presence of UJC in any resoulation process is indispensable. They are sacrificing their present for the future of the masses,"

We are the heirs of the scarifices and have to support the resistance movement until its logical conclusion," siad Khan. A JKLF delegation also visted the house of the slain fidayeen and expressed solidarity with the family.

Meanwhile, Following the killing of a fidayeen in Lal Chowk gunfight who hailed from Peth Seer area of north Kashmir's Sopore town, the township observed a complete shutdown on Friday. Traffic remains off the roads and all business establishments and educational institutions remained closed. Raising pro-freedom and anti-India slogans youth come out on streets early in the morning and indulged in heavy stone pelting with Indian Army.

Thousands, locals gattheered after Friday prayers and raised pro-freedom and antiIndia slogans. The troopers reacted using lethi charge.

Troops martyr another two Kashmir Armed Fighters

Srinagar, January 08 : In disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian troops, in their fresh act of anti militancy, martyred two ArmedKashmiri youth at Anduruss in  Sheikh Aziz's Town Pampore, today.

In Sopore, 20  thousands of people attended funeral prayers of the mujahid, who was martyred during the 24-hour clash in Lal Chowk, yesterday.

The authorities have not handed over the dead body of the other mujahid, martyred in the clash. Forceful demonstrations marked with complete shutdown were held in Lal Chowk area of Srinagar and in Sopore to mourn the killing of the mujahideen. APHC leader, Nayeem Ahmad Khan was among those who led the demonstrations. Unknown gunmen shot dead a young man in the town. Anti-India protests were also staged in Banihal and Poonch areas.

Clashes between Indian troops  and pro-liberation demonstrators continued at Sopore, Nowhatta, Gojwara, Magherbal Bagh, Habbal Kadal, Maisuma and Badshah Chowk areas in Srinagar. Indian policemen resorted to excessive teargas shelling, injuring several protestors. The police raided the office of Jammu and Kashmir Mass Movement in Srinagar, arresting nine of its workers. Patron of the party, Farida Behanji was placed under house arrest. The authorities of Kot Bhalwal jail, Jammu refused a lawyers’ delegation to meet the political detainees in the jail.

Kashmiri newsmen staged a peaceful protest in Srinagar, today, against unprovoked shooting at a photo journalist by a police officer in Lal Chowk area, when he was performing his professional duties. The Kashmir Press Association, news organizations and Hurriyet leaders in their statements strongly condemned the police officer’s action. (KMS)

Why S M Mushrif’s book “Who Killed Karkare?” not discussed in Indian Saffron Media

By Mohd Ziyallah Khan,

To tell a truth in front of a tyrant ruler is the biggest crusade in the sight of Lord. And perhaps, this saying sounds so true to Mr. S M Mushrif (retired IPS officer – former IGP Maharashtra) when he wrote his book ‘Who killed Karkare?’ published a couple of months back. Ironically, despite all the truth he has managed to jot down in his daring work, he couldn’t get the kind of coverage or response in the Media.

The sort of debate or discussion it should spark off in the market sounds missing though, the reasons are obvious, which he himself disclosed in his recent visit to Nagpur on 2nd and 3rd January 2010 in a conference organised by Bahujan Sangarsh Samiti Nagpur Chapter.

He said that 20-25 different journalists from the various big and small media houses – both the print and electronic – which interviewed him on 28th October 2009 at his Pune residence, but nothing really appeared the following day, except in small time newspapers of the city. His work was totally kept under the carpet; nobody really cared to debate or discuss it in public domain, thanks to the kind of pressure the Saffron brigade has created on the media industry. So one can imagine the fear in which they dwell these days. To this point Mushrif added a humor saying, “the saffron elements happen to be the real terrorist, but with my book they seems to be terrorized, so in this way I now call myself a more bigger terrorist than them”.

The most interesting speech in the two-day program of Bahujan Sangarsh Samiti, was in the symposium on ‘Hindu Nation and Bahujan Society’ (Bahujan Society is referred to the non-Brahmin communities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikh, Dalits, OBC’s etc). In his speech, Mr Mushrif said that the real trouble before the anti-national elements (saffron groups) were the true nationalist people like Karkare, Salaskar, Kamte etc, who managed to find the real culprit behind the series of bomb blasts executed in various places including, Malegaon, Nanded and Parbhani etc. The two laptops recovered by Karkare after Sadhvi Pragya’s arrest disclosed, how the Hindu terror network was responsible for the series of bomb blasts carried out, making Muslim innocent youths responsible for the same.

The laptop recovered had ample of information about how the Hindu terror group materialized this anti-national activities using people and groups of different expertise and resource. These groups of men included some high profile industrialists, politicians, media professionals, historians, academicians and so on. This new nexus coming into light was well exposed by our real hero, the ATS Chief, Hemant Karkare. This man made a promise to himself that he will leave no stone unturned to let the world know the truth. However, before he could do this, he was knocked out of this mortal world in a very mysterious fashion during the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

According to Mushrif, the elimination of Karkare was nothing but an innovative way of getting rid of a person who was likely to expose the anti-national elements which is nothing but the saffron brigade. This innovative way is – certainly killing people like Karkare under the shadow of some operation like 26/11, so it was a good team work between the so called Lashkar men and the saffron elements.

According to Mushrif, the IB was well informed about the LeT men hatching a plan to attack the Taj, they had been knowing this fact since 18th November 2008, but unfortunately, they never passed on this information to the Navy or to the Mumbai police, rather they preferred to give it to the coast guard which has nothing to do with the internal security. So it was nothing but efforts done too little too late, failing thus to avert this attack. The IB despite being informed about the movement of the boat carrying the men with lethal weapons remained tongue tied. Earlier the IB was provided with 35 different suspicious cell no’s by the RAW, the same numbers used during those 72 hours of terror in Mumbai, including many ISD calls and only one call made in Mumbai, just before the death of Karkare. In this way Hemant Karkare was killed by the men as per the directions of the saffron elements, while the message went to the masses was, ‘LeT men killed him’.

According to Mushrif, he had found 11 stark contrasting elements in two operations. The Taj-Oberoy-Trident was completely different from the one at Cama and Rangbhavan lanes. How can same people be at two different places at the same time? Also, he came across so many loopholes, in the 26/11 investigation. Sr. IAS officer Rangari told Times of India, Mumbai edition that during the attack at CST, out of 35 CCTV cameras, 16 were shut down at that particular day for no valid reason. The SIM recovered at CST station of the terrorist belonged to a person based at Satara (a city in Maharashtra), the police investigation was intervened in the midst of the due process, and this owner of the SIM was never brought to books. The lady beside the coastal area identified these men who came from boat, and was the eyewitness to the massacre perpetrated at Taj in the broad daylight, but was soon forced to leave for US.

The interesting remark made by Mr. Mushrif at the end of his speech was, that the IB in India is worst than any RSS Shakha, and that if these men who happen to be custodians of our security and who remain hand in glove with the enemies of our society, then its time to stand up for a new revolution.

(The writer is a freelancer and media activist based in Nagpur, can be contacted at writeziya@gmail.com)

NGO launches new schemes

PUNE: City-based Annapurna Pariwar, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) engaged in providing financial assistance for self-employment to people in  over 80 slums, on Sunday launched two new schemes: Sattapurna and Srushtipurna.

While Sattapurna will undertake capacity building training for women members on various elected bodies, Srushtipurna will focus on environment- and employment-related projects. The two schemes were launched on Saturday, when the NGO celebrated its tenth anniversary.

According to executive trustee Medha Samant, the NGO, under its flagship projects, Arthapurna and Udyampurna, had helped over 3,000 women and 500 men from slums so far.

While loans worth Rs 2.5 crore have been disbursed to women under the first scheme, Rs 25 lakh have been disbursed to men under the second scheme, she said. The highlight of these schemes was the 100 per cent recovery rate.

Tantrapurna, a project that offered vocational training to youth, has received encouraging response, and the organisation was successful in getting jobs for over 150 trained candidates with the help of a placement service called Sandhipurna, which was started by Annapurna, Samant said.

Another scheme, Swasthyapurna, a health fund, provided financial aid for medical expenses and organised regular check-ups and awareness programmes in all slums. The project extends to over 900 slum families and covers over 5,000 individuals, she said.

Samant pointed out that the NGO has also launched 'Shantipurna', to assist slumdwellers in procuring important documents like birth certificates and ration cards and in providing family and legal counselling. The scheme was currently operational in four slums, and covered 300 families.

To mark the 10th anniversary, Whay mi Savitri Boltey (Yes, I am Savitri speaking), a one-act play on the life of Savitribai Phule, was performed by Sushama Deshpande. (Writer-South Asia)