As the valley gears for the festival of Eid ul Fitr which marks the end of month-long fasting, Kashmiris are seen flooding markets to shop for the festival, however, the mood here at the home of Bhat’s is grim. Three children, the eldest aged 14, do not know how to spend Eid without their father.
There has not been a single day since 15 November 2021 when the Bhat family of Barzulla Srinagar has not lamented, and tears rolled their eyes. “There has not been a day when the impact of grief or shock has gone down since that tragic day,” Saima Bhat- the niece of Altaf Ahmed Bhat, said, trying to put on a brave face, but she could not stop her tears from rolling down her eyes.
On 15 November 2021, the Government forces claimed they killed four “militants during an encounter” in the Hyderpora area of Srinagar outskirts. The Jammu Kashmir Police identified the four as Altaf Ahmed Bhat, Dr. Mudasir Gul, Amir Magray, and a Pakistani national. Family members of three of them contesting the official version of the incident staged a protest and demanded the dead bodies of their kin.
The persistent protests of the family and the demand to hand back the dead bodies evoked widespread support as scores of Kashmiris joined them in their protests on the ground.
Thousands more took to social media to express solidarity and support to the families of the three, and soon the Jammu Kashmir Police expressed grief over the killing of Altaf Ahmed Bhat had said he was killed in the crossfire but blamed him for “sheltering” militants, a claim denied by his family.
Altaf Bhatt owned a shopping complex along the Kashmir highway that ran right by Hyderpora.
A shopkeeper in the area had told the media that he had known Altaf Bhat for the last 30 years. He had also claimed that even people in the CRPF and police knew him because his shop is on the main highway and he often had visitors from the security forces. He would often serve them tea and food. Sometimes they watched cricket matches together. Will he be that big a fool to harbour” militants inside a shop on the main road? This is nothing but murder,” he had said.
While police admit that they led Bhatt and Ahmad to the site, they added that the duo was killed in the crossfire during a shootout with militants holed up in Bhatt’s building.
The encounter began at 4:30 pm on 15 November when personnel from Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Indian Army, and the Central Reserve Police Force reached the market area of Hyderpora; wearing pherans, they cordoned off the area and started searching the premises by holding up shopkeepers, their staff, workers and even customers, eyewitnesses in the area recalled.
The police had claimed that they had intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area. Everyone across a dozen shops in the 200 m radius were held up inside a hospital in the area and a Royal Enfield showroom. It is from this group that Altaf Bhatt and Dr. Mudassir Ahmad led away.
After the encounter, the militants and the two civilians’ bodies were quickly buried by the police in Handwara, 70 km away—followed by a protest from the family members of three men — Dr. Mudassir, Ahmad Bhatt, and Amir — who demanded their bodies. After the demonstrations across Kashmir, the police were forced to exhume the bodies of Dr. Mudassir and Ahmad Bhatt for a proper burial by the family.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha considering the gravity of the situation, had said there would be a magisterial inquiry into the encounter, with a report to be submitted in 15 days.
It is pertinent to mention here that Sujit Kumar, DIG Central Kashmir while addressing a press conference at Police Control Room (PCR), had stated that the CCTV footage and other shreds of evidence had proved that Mohammad Altaf Bhat was used as a human Shield by a foreign militant namely, Bilal Bhai. Police also claimed that it was a mere prediction as they were unable to access the CCTV footages of more than ten minutes when the killings took place. He also laid the claim that Dr. Muddasir Gul was also seen traveling with the foreign militants in his vehicle as per CCTV footage and was also staying in Mudasir Gul’s Chamber. He further said that the foreign militant shot Dr. Mudasir Gul as per directions from across. In the conference, it was also stated that Aamir was a militant who had lied about the presence of militants in the building.
Altaf has left behind three children, the eldest is 14 years old, and his wife.
The never-ending struggle for Justice
The grieving of the families of three victims of the Hyderpora incident on November 15 is yet to come to an end, and they are still traveling from pillar to post to know what exactly happened on that night. In November, the families were forced to endure a 76-hour ordeal that included commuting between government offices and police stations, three sleepless nights, a protest — all in the name of bringing their dead back, burying them, and providing closure for their children.
Initially, on November 15, all that the family knew was the encounter had happened in their building at Hyderpora. Saima, a journalist by profession consoled the entire family and assured them that Bhat would return home safely. Two hours later, the Jammu Kashmir Police confirmed his death, saying that “two militants”— Haider (a Pakistani national) and his associate Amir Ahmad and two civilians Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Mudassir Gul had been killed in the “encounter.”
Saima’s struggle began that night When the families of the two Srinagar residents learned that their loved ones had been buried in Handwara over 80 kilometers away from their home. The families fought to reclaim their loved ones. Saima told the children of Altaf Bhat that she would bring their father back to life and promised them that she would get his body back.
Saima accompanied by two of her relatives went to the local police station to inquire about the procedure for recovering Bhat’s body. The body, however, had been taken away for an autopsy. ‘the status of the body would be known the next morning,’ a Police official had told them.
Saima Bhat, niece of the deceased Altaf Bhat, while talking with The Kashmiriyat, said, “I don’t buy the argument that it was an encounter from the beginning. If it was an encounter why did my uncle have visible torture marks on his body.”
Defiant Saima has been trying everything within her reach to find justice for her uncle. Talking about the undisclosed report of the probe, she said, “The Lieutenant Governor had ordered a magisterial probe into this case after which the designated officer had called upon elder brother (my father) of deceased Altaf Bhat to record his statement. DIG Central Kashmir, Sujit Kumar, had called him as well to record his statement in his departmental inquiry, and later on, the police held a press conference regarding this as well. However, the magisterial probe remains unrevealed. Even though LG Manoj Sinha had assured us the report of the magisterial probe in a time-bound manner, it has been five months since the incident took place, and we are still awaiting the report.”
Saima says that she has registered several complaints on the online portal governor’s grievance cell demanding the result of the probe, demanding for new FIR copy for the “murder” of her uncle, a ballistic report, autopsy report, but till now the family has been provided nothing. On being asked if they feel any justice has been served to the family of Altaf Bhat, Saima said, “We expected a lot from Lieutenant Governor because he had claimed that a time-bound probe will be set up in the case and whosoever found guilty will be punished, but nothing has been done so far to assure justice in this case.”
“We are all hopeful that somehow, we will get to know what happened that day,” Saima added. “There are many dashes and dots in this story, and we have no clue how to connect them; we can’t trust anyone regarding this,” she said.
The family has been in a constant state of mourning since the night they received the tragic news of Mohammed Altaf Bhat’s death. There rarely has been a normal day. “We are all in a continuous mourning state. Our main aim right now is to secure the future of his children,” said Saima, sounding determined to take care of the three children of her uncle.
The trio is too young to cope with the situation; our focus is to look after them, get them out of the trauma, she said.
“The loss of a parent is a burden that young children like them can’t handle on their own. Even if we do everything for them, it still won’t compensate them for their father’s love. Nobody can replace the place of parents in anyone’s life,” Saima said.