ISI To ISIS: The New Code

Soon after Sajad Ahmed Gil­kar바카라�s body was brought to his home in downtown Srinagar on July 12, youths who led the fun­eral procession of the young militant did something unprecedented in the history of Kashmir바카라�s insurge­ncy: they waved black flags. The colour, representative of the Isl­amic State terror group, has brought to the fore new ideological faultlines in the restive Valley, where Pakistan바카라�s national flag is a usual sight on such occasions of loud protest.

At Nowhatta, men demonstrating support to 26-year-old Sajad and his separatist ideology also shouted slogans hailing Hizbul Mujahideen militant Zakir Musa. Exactly a month before it, 23-year-old Musa had proclaimed that Kashmir struggle was all about Shariat and shahadat (martyrdom). What바카라�s more, the Pakistani flag, he proclaimed, doesn바카라�t fall within the 바카라�pure realm바카라� of the Quran-prescribed Islamic guidelines 바카라�because there is no Kalimah (declaration) insc­ribed on it바카라�. The militant conglomerate of United Jihad Council distanced itself from the statement, prompting Musa to announce his departure from the 1989-founded Hizb.

Kaw Mohalla witnessed loud protests ahead of the last rites of its son Sajad, who sec­urity personnel had killed along with two other militants the previous evening at a hamlet in Budgam district of central Kashmir. That encounter at Red­bug was on specific information about the presence of certain ultras, according to the police. Five days later, ano­ther funeral of a militant in Pulwama district was mar­ked by waving of the same black flags. The body of Jaish-e-Mohammed바카라�s Mukhtar Lone was shrouded in ISIS flag at the procession in Amurabad, inclining obse­rvers to suspect whether there is a new worry taking over the Valley since the burst of insurgency in 1990.

Some analysts tend to look at it from a different angle, saying the vanishing of Pakistani flags at such funerals could imply a message of disenchantment with the establishment in Islamabad. Writing paeans about this on social networking sites, they note Nowhatta has been the first case of people throwing away Paki­stani flag at the funeral of a militant, INS­tead holding black ones. 바카라�This happened in Old City, which has always remained pro-Pakistan (since 1947),바카라� notes an obs­erver. 바카라�Black flags inscribed with Kali­mah don바카라�t necessarily mean it is the ISIS, but a signal to Pakistan that it hasn바카라�t done enough for Kashmir. And, yes, that other forces can replace it in Kashmir.바카라� Ano­ther category of observers chose to des­cribe the waving of black flags as a sign of an 바카라�ideological shift바카라�.

The police believe the black flags will fizzle out soon. 바카라�Kash­mir has never acce­pted this kind of an ideology and Kashmir will never accept it바카라�, says Inspector General Munir Ahmad Khan, deri­ving optimism from rec­ent protests that rocked Kashmir after the lynching of deputy supe­rint­endent Ayub Pandith. 바카라�Everyone condemned it. People spoke without fear of reprisal. It gives a lot of hope.바카라�

As for the July 11 Redbug encounter, Budgam Superintendent of Police Tej­inder Singh says it started after security personnel launched a cordon-and-search operation following a definite tip-off about militants in a house. 바카라�They started firing at us. We halted the operation for the night. The gunfight resumed in the morning. The trio was killed,바카라� Singh tells Outlook. The government forces had made an announcement for surrender, but the militants, with one rifle and two pistols, didn바카라�t accept it, he adds. Besides Sajad, the deceased were Hizbul district commander Javed Sheikh and Moha­mmad Aquib Gul, 22, also of the Hizb. Aquib was from posh Sanatnagar, having no history of throwing stones at forces on the streets­바카라�he was an engineering student who left home on June 27. Sajad, with a decade바카라�s record of stone-­throwing, had left home on June 29.

The intervening night of July 11 and 12 has left a deep scar in the minds of Redbug villagers, who had to flee their homes ahead of the encounter. Middle-aged Mohammad Ramzan Mir is among them, having his house reduced to burnt walls that now bear writings mirroring the fury of a young generation. After the she­lling and firing, only the walls of the brick house stand intact바카라�the fire on the night burnt down everything, including the copper utensils in the kitchen.

Ramzan, 55, says he came to learn that three boys had entered his house and that the police and the army had cordo­ned off the picturesque village. 바카라�I was cutting wood along with other labourers,바카라� he says pointing towards tree trunks on the ground in vast open field having walnut, poplar and willow trees outside his house, now an ashen frame. On the walls of the burnt house, youngsters have INS­cribed 바카라�Pakistan Zindabad바카라�, 바카라�Hizbul Mujahideen바카라� and 바카라�Burhan Wani바카라� (the Hizb militant killed in an encounter a year ago). 바카라�I have nothing to do with the writings,바카라� says Ram­zan, who has six daughters바카라�all unmarried. 바카라�These youngsters came in large numbers and wrote whatever they wanted. How can I stop them?바카라�

None in Redbug claims having seen militants ent­ering the village or their bodies after the encounter. 바카라�We are not like south Kashmir. It바카라�s very peaceful here,바카라� says Ramzan. 바카라�When a cordon was laid around the village, we followed the forces바카라� instruction and moved out. We came back the next day by when there was no firing. What happened in between바카라�we don바카라�t know.바카라� A village boy says the bodies of three militants were lying on the mosque ground바카라�not in Ramzan바카라�s house. 바카라�I saw it on the internet. The bodies were lying close to a cart. That place is close to Ramzan바카라�s house, across the brook,바카라� he adds.

Ramzan and other villagers totalling around 520 say they had been living a good life and would never participate in protests. 바카라�Yes, there were few militants in our area, but that was in the early 1990s,바카라� says the headman of the village, where July-August is lean season when its men work as labourers, taking a break from mainstay as shawl weavers and artisans. 바카라�We have never participated in any protest in recent past.바카라�

On the critical evening of July 11, mason Nazir Ahmed Gilkar got a call from an unknown number when he was in Pampore town, 15 km south of Sri­nagar. On the other side was his son, Sajad. 바카라�It was 7.48 pm. He told me that an encounter is about to start바카라�and sought my forgiveness. He told me he made us suffer for long,바카라� he recalls. 바카라�Then Sajad said he wanted to talk to his mother. I said I am not at home. He said 바카라�please ask mother to forgive me바카라�.바카라� That was the first and last time Nazir heard his son바카라�s voice after the youngster disappeared on June 29. The night over, he was to see Sajad바카라�s body.

That day, Sajad바카라�s two uncles rushed to Budgam to get his body. Manzoor Ahmad and Imtiyaz Ahmad say the police forced them to visit one police station after ano­ther, denying the body for long. Finally when they got it, a senior police officer asked Nazir about the route the funeral was to take. Soon, a curfew was imposed in the Old City. 바카라�Police didn바카라�t allow us to have his funeral prayers at Jamia Mos­que,바카라� says the father.

Even as new hardliners are keen to describe Sajad as a militant by conviction, his family believes continuous torture by the police forced him to join militancy. 바카라�Had we known he will join militancy, we would have done anything to stop him,바카라� says Nazir. Chimes in Imtiaz: 바카라�All we know is that some unkn­own people took over the body of our son, shouted slogans and brought the flag. We presumed it as an Islamic flag. That is it.바카라� Today, the household is concerned that the police have smeared their son바카라�s name by linking him with the July 22 lynching of DySP Pandith.

The police did come up with a statement to that effect on the day of the Redbug encounter. Sajad played key role in the DySP바카라�s murder바카라�and went underground after the incident to join the Hizb, a police spokesman had said. 바카라�He was also involved in grenade attacks on CRPF at Now­hatta this April 2, on a CRPF camp SafaKadal on June 11, and a grenade attack on a pol­ice party at Khanyar on April 30,바카라� he said, claiming Sajad바카라�s involvement in att­acks on Abdul Qayoom in Barzulla on May 24 and an army convoy near SKIMS Medical Col­lege, Bemina on April 1.

The family is indignant. 바카라�He was not involved in the lynching. We will go to the Ayub바카라�s family to clear it to them,바카라� says Nazir. 바카라�My son was questioned two days after the lynching and was rel­eased바카라�after severe torture. The police arrested one of his friends, also a stone-thrower, but let him off too. If he was involved in the lynching, how come the police didn바카라�t arrest him?바카라� Nazir calls the lynching an 바카라�extremely dehumanising바카라� act and says the police were in a hurry to close the case, making his son the main accused in the process.

Since 2008, Sajad has been in and out of the police station. 바카라�Last year,바카라� recalls Manzoor, 바카라�when he was not at home, the police dragged his father from the byla­nes of this mohalla then bundled him into a gypsy.바카라� Sajad, according to his lawyer Mir Urfi, was last booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in July last year and was released this January. Since then, he was regularly coming to the court for the hearing of cases against him. He was booked under the PSA three times since 2008. The family says Sajad, after coming out of the jail, had become silent and rarely went out. 바카라�We don바카라�t deny he was stone thrower, but the police should spare us from the torture of involving him with the lynching,바카라� says the father.

The lawyer is also puzzled. Urfi says Sajad바카라�s name doesn바카라�t figure among the accused in the June 22 FIR June 22 at Nowhatta police station in the case on the lynching of the DySP. 바카라�There are four cases registered against Sajad. He was regularly coming for the hearings. He was present on June 29 as well for a hearing,바카라� she says.

The police say Sajad had, along with Aquib and Javed, disappeared after the Pandith lynching. 바카라�He was not present in the court on his hearing date; otherwise we would have arrested him,바카라� says Inspector General Munir Ahmad Khan, known for his counter-insurge­ncy operations and aptitude. Many in Srinagar feel the killing of Sajad and Aquib has the potential to drive boys towards militancy as is the case in south Kashmir, But Khan doesn바카라�t agree. 바카라�Neither militancy nor protests supporting it will rem­ain for long바카라�be it in Srinagar or South Kashmir,바카라� he says.

For past two decades, Srinagar has rem­ained the hub of separatist protests; but the state capital hasn바카라�t seen militancy from its youngsters, who throw stones but seldom pick arms. The last militant from Srinagar to have been killed was Sajad Ahmad Khan바카라�in Rajouri district of Jammu in 2010. He was from Firdous Abad in Batamaloo of the state  capital. Intelligence sources say only eight youths from Srinagar have joined militancy. That is a figure officials dismiss as negligible.

By Naseer Ganai in Budgam and Srinagar