Bhat Yasir/ Mehran Bhat
Mohammad Altaf Bhat— a shopkeeper by profession was killed during an encounter which broke out between the militants and the government forces at Hyderpora, Srinagar on Monday evening.
The family members of Altaf staged a protest in the middle of the night at Barzullah Bridge and refuted the police claims that he was a militant associate.
Abdul Majeed— brother of the slain, Mohammad Altaf, who is a resident of Old Barzulla and the Namberdar of Old Barzulla, while talking to The Kashmiriyat narrated his ordeal with a heavy heart and said, “My brother ran a shop at the Hyderpora bypass. He owned the complex where the incident took place.”
“Altaf ran a hardware shop on the ground floor, while he had rented the rest of the floors to the other shopkeepers. Unfortunately, at around 5 p.m., the forces condoned off the area and Altaf was told to come out and close the shop,” Majeed said.
“When he came out, they locked him off at another shop with a few others. One of them was a doctor – Mudassir and another was a ‘Chaprasi’ (an errand boy) from Gool Gulabgarh, who would make tea for them,” Abdul Majeed told The Kashmiriyat.
“If the police proves that Altaf had any sort of links with militants, I’m ready to bear the punishment,” Majeed said.
“Had he really been involved in militancy, do you think he’d have been able to earn all of this? He was a successful businessman. He had a family, including 3 kids – two daughters and a son,” Majeed said, while talking to The Kashmiriyat.
It is pertinent to mention that the IGP Kashmir, via Jammu Kashmir police’s official handle said that the house owner who succumbed to his injuries was a “militant associate.”
“#SrinagarEncounterUpdate: The house owner who was injured in militant fire, succumbed to his injuries. #militants have been hiding on top floor of his building. As per source and digital evidence, he has been working as militant associate. Search is still going on: IGP Kashmir,” the police said in a tweet, yesterday.
The slain’s niece, Saima Bhat, a senior journalist from Kashmir took to Twitter and said that the police had used her uncle as a “Human Shield” and later killed him.
You killed my innocent uncle Mohammad Altaf Bhat in cold blooded murder In Hyderpora, you used him as human shield and now saying he was “OGW”. return us his body @JmuKmrPolice @SrinagarPolice @IGP
— saimabhat (@saimabhat) November 15, 2021
Meanwhile, Majeed alleged that they were abused at PCR. He said, “At 10 p.m., we visited PCR, and till 2 a.m., we were told to wait and after that we were abused and hit with sticks.”
“What kind of justice is this? ” Majeed asked.
“I demand justice. I request to the L.G. Jammu Kashmir to initiate an investigation into the matter and I also demand that the body of Altaf be returned to the family for burial,” he added. Until yesterday, the reports that emerged suggested that 3 were killed during the encounter, but reports emerged this morning that another person, Mudassir Gul, a doctor was killed during the encounter too.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, today, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir said that four persons including a foreign militant, his local associate, an OGW and a building owner were killed in Hyderpora, Srinagar encounter on Monday evening.
He said that the building owner was killed in a “cross fire.”
“It is not sure whether militant bullet or the bullets fired by forces hit him. Militants were carrying pistols and it would be clear after investigations whose bullet hit him,” the IGP Kashmir said..