Srinagar: The suspected militants came in a car, posing as journalists. They asked for Mukhtar Ahmad Malik, a former commander of the state-backed militia group, the Ikhwan, who was now working with the Territorial Army. Within minutes, they were inside his house, on the first floor. As Malik sat in the corner of a room, surrounded by mourners, four militants rushed towards him and fired at him from close range, killing him on the spot on Monday.
Malik had arrived home in Shurat village, located on the fringes of Kulgam town, to mourn the death of his 17-year-old son Adil Ahmad. A Class 12 student, Ahmad was grievously injured in a road accident last week and succumbed to injuries on Saturday while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Srinagar.
“The family was mourning. They (the militants) came at around 11 am and before we understood what happened, he (Malik) was lying in a pool of blood,” said a villager. Malik was shot in the head. He was rushed to a local hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead.
Forty-five-year-old Malik had joined Ikhwan in 1994. The militia was created to crush the militancy and was notorious for committing numerous human rights violations across Kashmir. In 2002, when Ikhwan was finally disbanded, Malik – code named Mukhtar Goula – joined the Territorial Army.
He was posted with the 162nd Battalion, but was on leave following his son’s accident. Though no rebel group has so far claimed responsibility for the killing, the police have blamed it on militants. “Malik had come home after his son’s death. We have registered a case and taken up investigation,” said a senior district police officer.
This is the first time that militants in Kashmir have posed as journalists to gain access to their target, a tactic that is likely to worsen the already fraught circumstances under which the media in the state operates.
According to villagers, Malik was infamous in Kulgam during the Ikhwan’s peak and was allegedly responsible for the killing of many civilians, mostly those associated with the politico-religious organisation Jamat-e-Islami. He was also accused of involvement in the killing of two-time former legislator and Jamaat leader Abdul Razaq Mir from Bachroo village in Kulgam constituency, in 1997.
Malik would rarely visit home, particularly after the 2016 uprising when Kulgam started witnessing the revival of local militancy. No one from the neighbourhood remembers when Malik came home last. “I hadn’t seen him for more than a year. He would seldom come home,” said a neighbour.
Soon after the incident, media persons rushed to the village, but Malik’s family members and relatives stopped them from entering the house. His body was flown to the army’s Badamibagh cantonment for a wreath-laying ceremony before he was buried in his native village.
The angry family didn’t allow the media to cover the funeral, which was attended by his relatives and some neighbours. Some of his relatives chased away local media persons and threatened to beat them up.
The incident underlines the deteriorating security situation in Kashmir, where civic body polls are scheduled to begin next month. The state is facing a deepening political uncertainty and is presently under governor’s rule.
Members of security forces who are on vacation have become targets for militants in Kashmir. During the past three months, Malik is the second army man killed by militants in Kashmir while on leave. On June 15 this year, the bullet-ridden body of army man Aurangzeb from Poonch, who was abducted by militants, was found in Gusoo village of Pulwama district. Last year, two army personnel, including Lt Ummar Fayaz, were killed by militants. Fayaz was abducted and killed by militants in Shopian.