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Kashmir Tales- The Base of a Dreaded Ikhwani and the Home of Teenage Militants

December 10

In 1995, a bride was kidnapped by the men of a known counter insurgent from the Parray Mohalla of Hajin in Bandipora District. The bride was forcefully married to the kidnapper on the Same evening and the next morning, Ikhwanis abducted the man she was supposed to get married to and tortured in custody.

“He was released after his family paid a sum of Rs 40,000 to the close men of the counter insurgent, but the next day, he went missing, Nobody knows what happened to that boy, some say he committed suicide, but nobody is certain, may be he was killed by the men of Kuka Parrey,” a resident of Parray Mohalla told The Kashmiriyat.

Mohammad Yusuf Parray, better known as Kuka Parray, was a former MLA and one of the pioneer of counter-insurgency movement in Kashmir and the founder of Jammu Kashmir Awami League.

Protesters Clashes With Forces in Hajin town/ Photo- Shabir Khan/ The Kashmiriyat

A resident of Parray Mohalla in Hajin of Bandipora, He was a Kashmiri folk singer, before he founded his pro-India militant outfit, Ikhwan that targeted top pro-Pakistani militants.

His death was considered a major blow to the security forces against terrorism in Kashmir. The then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, described the killing as “a setback to the peace process.”

Our lives were miserable, the counter insurgents were the rulers of this place, the administration was non functional, non existent, one Ghulam Qadir Dar in 1996 elections votes against the party Kuka Parrey launched, four members of his family were rained with bullets in 1996,” says a resident on condition of anonymity.

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“The fear of those counter insurgents is so much in our hearts, that we still dare not speak against them, not even in our personal conversations,” he told The Kashmiriyat.

“First Kuka Parray did everything to harrass us, to make our life hell and now the Indian forces are harassing us,” Abdul Gani Khan, a resident told The Kashmiriyat.

“Nothing has changed for us from that time to this,” he said, adding that the forces often accuse the residents of providing food and shelter to militants.

Located almost 45 Kilometres North of Srinagar, Hajin, A town in north Kashmir, known for its willow nurseries, which once was the base of a counter-insurgency Gunmen and their support network is undergoing a change of heart, Azhar Qadri, a prominent journalist from Kashmir valley wrote in in 2017. He also wrote that Militancy made its 2015 that a group of foreign militants made their first entry to this North Kashmir township and managed to set their base here.

Forces Reach Hajin Township after the Clashes Erupted in the area- Photo/ Shabir Khan/ The Kashmiriyat

In the Mid 1990s, Kuka Parrey ruled Sonawari, a cluster of villages including Hajin and further beyond. Hundreds of militants and even civilians with alleged sympathy to militants were killed by his men, This increased the level of violence in Hajin by several fold also increased a massive displacement of people from rural Hajin to urban areas.

In a tide of anger that gripped the entire Kashmir valley on 08 July, 2016, as more youth from Kashmir valley thronged the Militant ranks, Abid Hamid Mir and Nasrullah from Hajin Bandipora joined Militant ranks in May 2017.

Top militants such as Abu Musaib, the nephew of LeT ideologue Zakir-ur-Rehamn Lakhwi, who was killed last year, stayed in the Hajin town for some time, as per Police. In November 2017, six top LeT commanders were killed in an operation in Hajin including Owaid, whom police claimed to be another of Lakhwi’s nephews.

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On Sunday, thousands of people thronged the streets of Parray Mohalla and nearby Mir Mohalla amid intense pro independence and Anti India slogans eulogising death as the news of the killing of the teenage native boys, Saqib and Mudasir reached these areas.

“I am happy that my son died as a martyr as he had chosen the righteous path, ” says mother of Saqib Bilal Shiekh son of Bilal Ahmad Sheikh of Parrey Mohalla Hajin who killed in the encounter had joined militant ranks after went missing in August this year.

Mehbooba, mother of Saqib said that she had no regrets because her son died as a martyr. “After almost a month we came to know he has joined militant ranks when he sent us a communication but during these three month we couldn’t meet him,” she said.

The mother of a teenage mourns the death of her slain youth- Photo Shabir Khan/ The Kashmiriyat

She said that she was happy as his son was on a righteous path. “He had chosen this path willingly and I pray to Almighty to accept his martyrdom.
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He had faced lot hardships during these three months and finally his prayers has been answered as he embraced martyrdom, ” Mehbooba said.

Saqib was killed with two other accomplices in the encounter. One was identified as Pakistan national Ali and another was a local boy who had gone missing in August when Saqib also went missing. Both the local militants from Hajin, Mudasir Ahmad Parrey (14) and Saqib Bilal Sheikh (17) had left their homes together to join militant ranks.

The Residents of Hajin allege that Indian Government forces routinely carry out so-called “cordon and search operations,” to harass them.

Anti-India sentiment is running high among the locals.
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The Hajin town often witnesses clashes between forces and unarmed Protesters post 2016 Uprising, Photo/ Shabir Khan- The Kashmiriyat

“The army and police personnel thrash us, seize our bikes and cars and ransack our houses during these operations,” a local told The Kashmiriyat.

Arguably, the young militant in Kashmir, the 14-year-old boy Mudasir Rashid Parray who was killed in Mujgund area of Srinagar on Sunday was from the Hajin locality of Bandipora, son of Abdul Rashid Parray and a resident of Mir Mohalla in Hajin town, Mudasir Rashid went missing from his home on August 31, his photo carrying an AK 47 rifle appeared over the internet.

Mudasir was a student of 9th grade and two siblings at home, a brother and a sister.

“The people of Hajin have always felt stigmatised and ashamed by and excluded from the rest of the Kashmir valley for being “traitors” to the cause of Kashmiri independence, but now people no more call us as Ikhwanis or nabdis (supporters of counter-insurgency),” a college student who lives in Parray Mohalla told The Kashmiriyat.