Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, July 28: Militants today shot dead a Special Police Officer (SPO), who had snatched pistol from a Military Intelligence (MI) officer during Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s rally in North Kashmir’s Sopore town two years ago.
Police said that at about 9.50 a.m. pistol borne militants shot dead Mudasir Ahmad Dar, 25, son of Gulzar Ahamd Dar at his residence Ontoo Hamam, Chanakhan Sopore.
Police sources said that the two militants barged into the house of Mudasir at Ontoo Hamam soon after he took a bath in river Jhelum outside his residence. “Mudasir jumped out of the window as he saw the two militants barging in. The duo chased him for about 50 meters before showering a volley of bullets at him”, police sources said.
The police sources said that the SPO received several bullets in neck, chest and limbs and died on the spot. The militants fled from the scene to the nearby woods after carrying out the strike. Senior police officers immediately rushed to the spot and his body was taken to the Police Station and later handed over to the family for burial.
Police, 52 Rastriya Rifiles of Army, 177 and 149 battalions of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched a massive man hunt against the militants responsible for the killing of the SPO. The village Higam in the outskirts of Sopore where four policemen were killed on April 26 was also cordoned and search operation against the militants is going on.
Police sources said Hizbul Mujahideen was responsible for his killing. However, no militant outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.
Reports said that Mudasir was appointed as an SPO in the District Special Branch (DSB) of Sopore Police in 2012 after he came close to Sopore Police during his detention.
Mudasir along with six other persons were arrested in 2011 for snatching a service pistol of an MI officer during Geelani’s rally at Sopore on November 11, 2011. Police recovered pistol from Mudasir and he was declared as the main culprit behind the attack on the MI officer.
Geelani was addressing a rally at Sopore on November 11, 2011 when an MI officer was found shooting the proceedings with his camera. He was overpowered by a group of youth in Geelani’s rally and roughed up and pistol was snatched from him. He was later rescued by the Police.
Geelani had alleged that Government wanted to assassinate him and his men overpowered the MI officer who was in his rally with a pistol. On November 13, 2012, Geelani moved an application for lodging an FIR in Police Station Sopore which police considered and made part of the FIR about the attack on the MI officer.
Later, on November 25 police arrested Mudasir and recovered MI officer’s pistol from him. Police at that time had claimed that the pistol was recovered from him when he was about to hand it over to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants.
Mudasir was then put behind the bars and later recruited by Sopore Police an SPO when an FIR was registered against him for assault on MI personnel and snatching his weapon.
The killing of the SPO comes two days after a Sarpanch was attacked by militants in Krankshawan village in North Kashmir’s Sopore town.
Prior to this on June 26, militants shot dead a 45 year old Kifayat Hussain Mir from Zainagheer Sopore. As per Sopore Police, he was police friendly and was supporting police in community police initiatives. He had received threats from militants for his pro-police initiatives.
On April 26, militants had killed four police men in Higam, Sopore.
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