By Auqib Javeed, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: “Have you satisfied your bloodthirst by killing my son? Are you happy now as you will get awards? How will you sleep in the night by snatching son of a mother?” are the questions Naseema (name changed) has been left with as she cries inconsolably in a makeshift tent while referring to her son murdered allegedly by the Indian security forces.
At around 3:45 am on Thursday, Salim Malik woke up to some noise at his home in Srinagar. He presumed burglars have entered the shed to steal his sheep or birds. “As soon as he stepped out, the government forces fired a volley of bullets at him killing him on the spot,” says Naseema, mother of Salim.
“What was his fault? Was he carrying any gun?” she adds as tears streamed down her face.
While the reality has sunk in for Naseema, Saleem’s two sisters still refuse to believe that their brother has gone forever.“O miani yaro mekus lagi maenz’’ (Who will paint my hands with Henna on my wedding now) wails his sister, sitting in a corner of the tent full of mourners. “Is this your bravery?” yelled another woman in the tent while referring to the Security forces. “Why they are killing our children every day? If they couldn’t find the militants does it mean they will kill innocents? He was killed in cold blood. Over twenty bullets were fired at him,” she says.
On Thursday morning, the special operations group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) laid a siege around Bagwanpora locality of Noorbagh amid “credible inputs” about the presence of militants in the area, a police spokesperson said.
However, according to the locals, there were no militants present in the area and they killed Saleem to vent out their anger.
“My son was fond of raring sheep and pigeon and he never picked up a stone in his hand. Why was he killed when he was not a militant and clean police record? Why was he killed when no militant was present in the area and there was no encounter at all,” questions Muhammad Yaqoob Malik, the father of the slain youth.
Yaqoob said that after watching the Cricket match on Wednesday night, all family members went to sleep. “For morning prayers, like always I came downstairs for ablution but found men in uniform outside. I along with my son offered prayers inside the room. My son Salim went outside to close the door of sheep shed that he found open. As he tried to close the door, the government forces without asking him anything pumped bullets into his body,” he said.
The father of the slain youth said that if it was a search operation, it was the duty of the police officials to enter into my house for questioning. “Neither any militant was present in the area no there was any encounter as was claimed by Indian media,” he said and demanded stern punishment for the killers.
“How can they kill any innocent youth without any justification? It is these killings which force youth of Kashmir to join militancy. It was a cold-blooded murder,” he said.
Malik, 26, was the youngest among the four siblings, including two sisters. His father runs a barbeque shop in the locality while his mother is a housewife.
Malik’s killing set off massive pro-freedom and anti-India demonstrations in Noorbagh and its neighbourhood localities. Hundreds of people chanting slogans hit the streets and staged a protest against the killing.
Angry protesters pelted rocks at the government forces to vent their ire against the killing, witnesses told TwoCircles.net. They said government forces fired pellets after they failed to disperse protesters with batons and tear smoke shells.
“In the pitched battles that continued for several hours, at least fifteen youth sustained injuries, seven of them were hit by pellets and other injuries were due to tear gas shelling,” witnesses said.
The killing of Muhammad Salim was condemned by both Separatists leaders and mainstream politicians. The Resistance leadership has called for a shutdown on Friday against the killing while PDP senior leader and former finance minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari termed the killing as ‘a cold-blooded murder’.
Bukhari said the killing of Muhammad Saleem Malik is a heinous crime which is unacceptable to any civilized society. He demanded an impartial probe at the highest level so that the culprits of this brutal killing are booked and brought to justice.
Meanwhile, a police spokesperson said that government Forces acting on a credible input cordoned a cluster of houses in Noor Bagh area of Srinagar city, where the hiding militants fired indiscriminately resulting in the death of an individual identified as Saleem Malik, son of Mohammad Yaqoob Malik.
Earlier, hundreds of people attended funeral prayers of the slain youth before he was taken in a procession to martyrs graveyard in Eidgah. Amid vociferous pro-freedom and anti-India slogans, the youth was laid to rest. The Police have initiated an investigation in all the cases, the spokesman said.
