 Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Anantnag, Nov 24: Irate over the killing of three local Hizb militants, protestors hoisted a Pakistani flag on Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed's ancestral house at Baba Mohalla in Bijbehara on Tuesday.
Witnesses told Early Times that the youth mostly teenagers who were part of the funeral procession, climbed a pole erected near the house of Chief Minister and fixed a Pakistani flag.
They said that angry protesters also stoned the house, when people participating in funeral procession were taking the bodies of slain militants towards the 'marriage house' recently inaugurated by the Chief Minister, however the house didn't sustain any visible damage.
Police personnel guarding the ancestral house of Chief Minister opened few rounds in fire to disperse the protesters after the burial of militants which created panic in the area.
The flag was hoisted on an outer wall of the ancestral home of Mufti that is being now used as a waiting hall for workers of the ruling People's Democratic Party.
The Mufti's maternal uncle, Mufti Muhammad Amin, and his son Mufti Muhammad Sajad, coordinator of the PDP, currently live in the house along with their families.
Mufti Amin, on being contacted said that he was not aware about the hoisting of flag. "We are all inside the house so we don't know what is happening or what has happened," he told Early Times.
However, SSP Anantnag Abdul Jabbar told media that the flag was hoisted on an adjacent house, and not the Chief Minister's residence.
Pertinently, three militants identified as Adil Ahmad Sheikh s/o Farooq Ahmad Shiekh, r/o Bijbehara, Tanveer Ahmad s/o Mubarak Ahmad Bhat r/o Bijbehara and Sartaj Ahmad Lone s/o Gull Mohd lone r/o Wapzan were killed in brief encounter in Sligam-Aishmuqam area of Anantnag district yesterday.
Among them, 17-year-old Sartaj had joined the militant ranks on October 23. According to sources, two militants during the intervening night had visited Bijbehara to pay respect to slain militants; however police in Anantnag downplayed such developments and termed them as rumours. |
