Encounter @ L-18 !

SAS

The recent encounter in Jamia Nagar in Delhi has raised many questions. Some people have lauded the "heroic" role of Delhi police, while some have questioned their modus operandi. Another section of people have gone further and claim that it was a "staged encounter"!

Notwithstanding the different shades of opinion that are pouring in from different quarters, there are some questions that merit serious attention.

The Delhi encounter was a successful "joint operation" - by the Delhi police and Indian electronic media! Police "killed terrorists" and news channels showed it, sab se tez!, without bothering to uncover some facts.

Police carried out the operation on a tip off from Ahmedabad blast accused Abu Bashar. Every one knew that Abu Bashar was in police custody and police was interrogating him. Police claim that Abu Bashar had stayed with Atif and his other friends in the same House L-18 when the former was in Delhi. I fail to understand why did not Atif and company change their "hideout" when they came to know about Abu Bashar's arrest. Were they so naive that they couldn't foresee its consequences.

Police rushed to Batla House and zeroed in on House No L-18. No warning shot was fired. The alleged militants were not even asked to surrender. Police, in its defence, claim that as soon as they entered the room, the occupants fired at them. However, locals have refuted the claim.

Fariyad, a lecturer at Jamia Millia Islamia, who lives just behind the L-18 apartment was quoted by a news agency as saying, "I don't know whether they were terrorists or students. But one thing is for sure. I heard only one kind of bullet sounds. It seemed the firing was only from one side."

S.A.R. Geelani visited the site hours after the encounter and he too was sceptical of police action. He demanded a judicial probe into the shootout and said: "People have been harassed in the area for a long time. It is not something new. Whenever something happens, this area is the first target being a Muslim one."

Curiously, police did not show the face of the alleged militants killed in the encounter. If they were people from the area or students, the locals could have easily recognised them.
Police also claim that two alleged militants managed to flee. How absurd? Two militants were able to give slip to over 100-strong police party in a broad day light. Now, you must be joking! Mind you, the appartment was cordoned off. The militants might have been wearing Mr. India's invisible gadget that's why police couldn't see them fleeing.

Moreover, police claim that the two alleged militants managed to escape from the rear side of the apartment. It is a stunt that would so easily qualify for "Ripley's Believe it or not". First, jumping directly from the fourth floor and managing to save themselves from half-a-dozen high-voltage power lines in the way.

After the Delhi serial blast, Delhi police was under enormous pressure. Delhites had lost faith in them. Desperate to regain their lost image in the eyes of public, they engineered the Batla House encounter, claiming they have killed those involved in the Delhi serial blast.

There are thousands of Kashmiris living in Delhi and majority of them are living at Batla House - some in rented flats and some in their own. As has been the case in the past, whenever some untoward incident takes place the needle of suspicion by-default points towards the hapless Kashmiris. The threat they carry with them has multiplied. No wonder if in few weeks or days from now some Kashmiris are arrested and labelled as "terrorists" or "master minds" of so and so blast. Afterall, "terrorist" tag comes naturally to them. As they say, every Kashmiri is a "potential terrorist".

The Jammu Kashmir govt must bring it to the notice of the Indian Home minister and see to it that no Kashmiri is unncessarily harassed and subjected to victimisation. The govt must ensure the safety of Kashmiris living outside state.