The assassins

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=4&id=52184&usrsess=1

The assassins
The Lone murder case was a sordid tale of intrigue in which six policemen colluded with militants to weave a sinister web. KAVITA SURI reportsFor Shiv Darshan Jamwal, the dynamic young police officer then posted in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district – a highly sensitive area close to the Line of Control, exposing the nexus between officials in his department and militants wasn’t an easy job. But under the able leadership of Gopal Sharma, the new director-general of J&K, Jamwal – who has also won the police medal for his role in fighting insurgency – could lay bare the truth behind the assassination of former National Conference leader Mushtaq Ahmed Lone.It all began on 3 June when a fidayeen, attired in police uniform, came to Lalpora police station, some 20 km from Kupwara. As the Kupwara police had prior intimation, the militant was stopped at the entrance. Identifying himself as a special police officer, he said that he was from Sogam police station. The suspicious guard, however, sought his identity card, by which time more policemen had gathered. Panicking, the militant tried to pull out a grenade. But the other cops pounced on him and, in the resulting scuffle, his rifle was snatched. The militant, however, managed to escape, taking cover behind a group of school children. Luckily, the guard could recall that two days earlier, he had seen the man at the police station with the station house officer of Sogam, assistant sub-inspector Ghulam Rasool Wani. When senior superintendent of police Jamwal learnt this, he sprang into action. Jamwal picked up the SHO, who in turn led to the munshi (a record keeper of sorts) of the police station, Abdul Ahad Rather. And the skeletons continued to roll out…Interrogations revealed that the 12 May fidayeen attack outside the State Bank of India building, Kupwara market – in which two RPF men were killed – was also the doing of these two policemen. But of more importance was the story behind Lone’s murder, which had all the ingredients of an action-packed drama. Mushtaq Lone, then law minister in Farooq Abdullah’s cabinet, was killed on 11 September 2002 while addressing an election rally at Tikkipora Sogam. His brother was killed on 5 December 2002, near his house at Dooniwari in Kupwara. Four militants, seven policemen and one civilian were involved in the killing of the Lone brothers. The four militants and two cops were directly involved in the killing while other four cops provided logistical support including transport and intelligence inputs. For the first time, Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba, Jaish-e-Mohommad and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen got together, deciding to eliminate Mushtaq Lone, with the objective of instilling fear amongst the people and candidates who were ready to participate in elections. On 11 September, LeT militant Nazir Kaker, dressed as a woman, managed to smuggle an AK-56 into a rally at Tikkipora, Kupwara, in which Mushtaq Lone was supposed to deliver a speech. When Lone began his address, Kaker stood up and fired at him, killing him and his two bodyguards. Kaker then escaped because of the firing by nine militants who had encircle the area. The munshi’s motive was to earn money, and others – especially Ghulam Rasool Wani – were coerced to help. The munshi, under the name Khalil Bhai, helped militant outfits like JeM in lieu of money. Being a resident of the area, he had excellent knowledge of the place as well as shared a good relation with several important people including the Lone brothers. The other main accused were special police official Muhammad Rustum Lone and a civilian, Gulam Nabi Peer alias Gulla Peer. Rustum’s wife was also arrested for “active participation” in the gang’s operations. The recovery of nude pictures of women from the munshi has, however, added another dimension to the story, though the police prefer to remain tight-lipped.When political rallies began to pick up steam during the last elections in Kashmir, Munshi and gang met in forester Mohammad Shafi Wani’s house, just yards away from Lone’s. Four local youths and two LeT commanders, Usman and Uqab, from Pakistan were also present. Another meeting of the Jaish militants was held in the house of one Khushhal Gujjar. This was attended by Jaish “district commander” Qari Asif, Irfan and two local Hizbul Mujahideen militants, Ghulam Ahmed and Hilal Dar. Nazir Kaker was chosen to kill Lone. And Operation Government Hatao was successfully executed. Encouraged by this assassination, the gang hatched another conspiracy. This time it was to eliminate Ghulam Mohiuddin Lone and Nazir Lone, the brothers of the slain minister. The Munshi obtained information about the brothers’ travel plans from Nazir Lone’s wife. Nazir, who alighted some 300 m before his residence, luckily escaped the bullets. Mohiuddin, however, could not save his life.The munshi also revealed that the militants had turned Sogam police station into a hideout where they would often rest or keep weapons.Wani, a resident of Drugmulla in Kupwara, had been posted in Lalpora before being shifted to Sogam. It was in Lalpora that he developed his links with Maulana Masood Azher’s JeM. Wani had been clandestinely working for the militants for a long time. Operation Government Hatao was a meticulously planned joint venture launched by the three deadliest militant outfits which added a new dimension to the 13 years of Pakistan-sponsored insurgency in Kashmir. It not only led to the killing of Mushtaq Lone but also left the whole security apparatus in the troubled state in a shambles. (The author is the Jammu-based Correspondent of The Statesman.) Black sheep in the forceIn the summer of 1992, a powerful bomb exploded in the office of the then J&K director-general of police, JN Saxena, in Srinagar. Two cops were killed while Saxena and many other senior officers were seriously injured. Investigations revealed that a cop, hand in glove with militants, had planted the bomb. n In January 1993, Riyaz Ahmad, a constable in J&K armed police, was passing by the Hazratbal Shrine on his way back home when the Army mistook him for a militant and shot him dead. This triggered a chain reaction and cops of all the 11 J&K armed police battalions went berserk, marching towards the Srinagar police control room with their weapons. The retaliating cops took senior police officers hostage. The Army then launched an operation and unarmed the cops. Consequently, nearly 50 cops were dismissed from service. Later, some were absorbed in J&K fire services on court orders.n In 1991, security forces arrested Abdul Majid Dar, constable in J&K Police at Kupwara, under the Public Safety Act. Dar was actively involved with terrorists and had even received training in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Despite his tainted past, Dar had joined the police force and worked as constable before being apprehended. On 16 October 1998, a high court division bench stayed the single-Judge judgment, which had directed the police authorities to allow Dar to join duty.These are not isolated cases. Ever since militancy has reared its ugly head in Kashmir, that is, in 1990, militants have had their men in the police department.This time, however, it was after a long gap that policemen were arrested for helping terrorists in a big way. The police-militant nexus had been in the news earlier too. In fact, a few top militant commanders had earlier served as policemen. Police officers also admit that some outfits have managed to plant their men into the ranks of the force. Former Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief commander Ali Mohammed Dar alias Burhan-ud-din Hijazi was a cop before he joined the outfit. So was Javed Shah, former Al-Jehad militant who later surrendered and became the top counter insurgent. Shah later joined politics and became National Conference MLC. Despite the long history of the police-militants nexus, the director-general of police minces no words while defending his force. “We are committed soldiers and J&K Police has a success rate of 75 per cent in anti-insurgency operations. J&K Police is one of the finest forces in the country and I am proud of it,” he says.The police simply refuse to accept that the Kupwara nexus, thriving since the last three years, points to their obvious failure. Refusing to buy the theory that militants have managed to infiltrate their men into the force, the former SSP of Kupwara, SD Singh Jamwal, says that the recent incident shows the sincerity of the police force. “There is not much contamination in the police department. There could be a few culprits here and there, but that is an aberration,” he says.DGP Gopal Sharma says, “Such aberrations were possible in certain far-flung localities. The treacherous act of a small section should not be magnified to smudge the 64,000-strong police force in J&K.” Sharma further says, “The process in on…We have also taken action against cops who have shown cowardice…” He has assured that the authorities would plug all security and intelligence loopholes to restore the sense of security among the common people in Kupwara district. The recent exposure has received appreciation from all political parties. Cutting across party lines, J&K Assembly legislators demanded a thorough inquiry into the alleged police-militants nexus, lauding the police for unmasking some “black sheep”. The final word of praise came from chief minister Mufti Sayeed himself who said that he had full faith in the integrity of J&K Police. “One bad fish should not be allowed to malign the entire organisation,” he said.The state police is now planning to adopt a new protective mechanism to keep away militants from entering the force. More manpower and weapons would also be provided to the “extremely vulnerable” police stations all over the state.— KS