Life in times of Ashiq Bukhari In 2006, a journalist from Delhi interviewed an insurgent in Kashmir who had climbed the ladder in his 13-year activist career to become the Hizbul Mujahideen outfits deputy district commander of Anantnag. On being asked why he choose to surrender to Syed Ashiq Bukhari, Bilal Ahmad Parray, of Dialgam, plainly replied: All the groups that are operating here fear him. It felt safer surrendering to an officer like Bukhari Saheb. On Wednesday, Bukhari joined politics, choosing Peoples Democratic Party which was long rumoured to be his retirement home and which now looks set to form the next government in Kashmir. Interestingly, contrary to the habit of the partys media cell, there was no elaborate statement to welcome his entry. The formal announcement of his entry into the PDP was sounded at the partys public rally in Handwara region Wednesday which was led by party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed himself. One of the most known faces of counter-insurgency grid in the region, under Bukharis tenure, more than 300 insurgents are reported to have been killed and many more neutralized. His policy was simple; he didnt believe in catch. He almost always preferred to kill. Bukhari was posted as SSP, Anantnag in 2004 when Hizbul Mujahideen was very much active in Dachnipora belt of Bijbehara and Pahalgam. He remained posted as SSP for two years and during his tenure, most of the top rank Hizb militants including its top commander, Shabir Budroo, were eliminated. It was Bilal Wahab, the insurgent interviewed by the Delhi-based journalist who took over the job of Budroo and later surrendered to Bukhari with three more men following him in coming days. People in Anantnag will still tell you that Bilal was working for police and he was planted to bring down curtains on the organizations active human resource in southern side of Kashmir Valley. Known for his murky counter-insurgency games, Bukharis name cropped up in Indian media during the investigation of 26/11 Mumbai attacks when he arrested four policemen, one of them an undercover agent, who had infiltrated into Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba and provided them SIM cards which were used by the 26/11 attackers. At the peak of his career, many surrendered militants were hired by police to act as informers. Bukhari managed to infiltrate his own men into the militant ranks to break their network and neutralized some of the top insurgents of Hizb. There are allegations that many stage-managed encounters were carried by police and Army during his tenure. In 2004 when a SAFMA delegation visited Kashmir by bus through Aman Setu, the also visited Anantnag where Bukhari was posted as SSP. He is reported to have boasted to a visiting journalist, Mariana Babar, of The News, that he singlehandedly killed many, many militants in the state. What are you doing here then? Babbar told Bukhari, Musharraf needs you in Wana, evoking laughter from the visitors. The Battle of Wana was a counter-insurgency operation launched by Pakistan Army at Azam Warsak, near the South Waziristan town of Wana where over 500 Al Qaeda insurgents were believed to be trapped, reportedly including Osamas deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri Over the years, his actions have earned him many enemies, so much so that a Hizb militant was assigned to bump off Bukhari but he managed to get to the killer before he got him. In fact, many people believe that Bukhari was appointed by PDP to wipe out the Hizb commanders with whom the party had a tactic understanding before 2002 assembly elections. In a detailed and excellent piece on the nuances of elections in Kashmir in The Caravan magazine, Sanjay Kak reported an eyewitness, a young police officer at the time, telling him that even the Army was reluctant to patrol some areas in Anantnag after dusk where PDP president Mehbooba Mufti used to campaign before 2002 assembly elections. But she would usually wear a green headscarf or a green cloak, and tell her audiences that the pen and inkpot had been given to their party by Brother Syed Salahuddin, the eyewitness told Sanjay. Locals believe that Mufti had entered into a secret deal with Hizb to facilitate his partys victory in the 2002 assembly polls in Bijbehara and Pahalgam constituencies. PDP, in turn, had assured amnesty on their coming to power to the Hizb militants, besides facilitating their talks with New Delhi. But as soon as PDP came to power, Bukhari with close ties with PDP patron Mufti worked with the Army to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid in Anantnag region and across Kashmir. Many major operations were carried in insurgency prone areas of Kokernag, Dooru and Shangus. There have been allegations of large scale human rights violations during these operations including the use of human shields, but it was an effective way of tackling the problem of insurgency. When Bukhari was transferred from Anantnag, the district had almost been declared militancy-free. In a short profile of counter-insurgency officers of Jammu Kashmir Police in Open magazine titled The Khaki Fidayeen, Bukhari is described as an undaunted, ruthless and brave officer who rooted out insurgency in Budgam region. Budgam was the first district which was declared militancy free by the state government some years ago. At the fag end of his career, he played an influential role in taming the stone throwing youths of Srinagar. As the senior superintendent, Srinagar police devised an amnesty scheme for those youths who were caught pelting stones for first and second time. For those who were caught on third occasion, those hardened by years of violence and their subjugated aspirations, their punishment included memorizing The Holy Quran which, as Bukhari himself says, most of them didnt even know how to read. Bukhari himself is a thoroughly religious person and offers five times prayers, but it is his role in counter-insurgency operations that will most likely cloud his public standing for the rest of his life. The journalist who interviewed Bilal Wahab wrote at the end of his piece: The time for innovative thinking in Kashmir is now, when so many young men have turned away from Pakistan and need to be guided back into the system. The time for the men who ensured the turning away of boys like Bilal to become part of the system has come now, too.(AUTHENTIC MAIL)
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 09:39:21 +0000
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