LeT threat hangs over 2 north Kashmir families

Nearly a week after their houses were destroyed in a fierce gun battle between security forces and militants, death continued to haunt the two families of Sopore in North Kashmir.

Posters purportedly belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) have appeared at many places, accusing Bashir

Ahmad Dar and his brother Khursheed Ahmad Dar of “providing information to police” which led to the killing of six militants last week in a 30-hour-encounter.
The posters have accused Dar brothers of taking R50 lakh from the police to provide “information about the militants”.

“These people were guiding the army during the encounter,” the posters read in Urdu.

Denying the accusations, Khursheed told HT, “Till now we were worried about how to provide our families shelter in this (harshest) period of winter. Now our lives are under threat.”

“In 1995, my father was tortured to death by the army. Today someone is accusing us of betrayal,” he added.

Bashir too refuted the blame. “Why would one take R50 lakh to lose property worth Rs.2 crore?” he asked.

The families, instead, accused the troops of uprooting 100 fruit trees in their joint orchard by using heavy machines. The posters have “appealed” the villagers to discontinue any aid which they were collecting for the families.

Bashir wanted the militant outfit to come out with something concrete before “the Sopore elders” to prove the allegations.

“And if Lashkar has not issued the posters then they must immediately clarify as it has hurt our reputation,” he said.

Militants, cop killed
Two militants, including a divisional commander of LeT, and a policeman were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday.

According to the police, a joint police and army team threw a cordon around Dodhipora village, 65 km south of Srinagar, following intelligence inputs.