Ultras kill another civilian in Shopian

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, November 17

Barely 36 hours after the abduction and killing of an 18-year-old student in Shopian district by militants, one more civilian has been abducted and killed by slitting his throat on Saturday afternoon.

The slain person has been identified as Huzaif Ashraf, 19, a resident of Manzgam village in neighbouring Kulgam district.

Huzaif, along with two other persons, was abducted from a bakery shop in Saidpora Payeen village of the Shopian district early on Saturday morning.

The other two were released later in the day. However, Huzaif was killed and his body was found in Harmain village of Shopian district.

“Yes, he has been killed. We were informed by the locals about a body lying in the orchards in Harmain. The body was identified to be of Huzaif,” a senior police officer said, adding that the body had been handed over to the family after medico-legal formalities.

Militants had on Thursday evening abducted a student, Nadeem Manzoor, from Safnagri village of Shopian district and shot him dead the same evening in Nikloora village of neighboring Pulwama district.

Following the killing, the Hizbul Mujahideen released a video of Nadeem’s execution, sending shock waves across Kashmir. The video described Nadeem as a police informer.

In the video, a terrified Nadeem can be seen sitting with his back to the militants, who urge him to speak assuring at the same time that they were not going to kill him. The militants are not visible in the video but can only be heard. As Nadeem apologises, the angry militants ask, “What had our Abrar and Soban done to you.” They, however, do not wait for an answer and shoot Nadeem multiple times.

A senior police officer from south Kashmir said the veracity of the video was being ascertained.

“It looks like that the video has been apparently released to create fear among the masses. But it will be too early to comment. Let us investigate the video first,” the officer said.