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Author:
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: January 22, 2006
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=86368
A lucky arrest unravelled the new nexus
Not old-fashioned investigation, not a tip-off from a tested informer. It was the chance arrest of a robber that helped the J&K police uncover the depths of the politician-militant nexus in the state.
The day was November 30, 2005; the place was Rajouri Kadal in Srinagar's old city. Four robbers forced their way into a J&K Bank branch and looted Rs 12 lakh. On their way out, one of the gang slipped and fell. Bystanders pounced on him and handed him over to the police, who later identified the man as Mushtaq Ahmad, resident of a nearby locality.
In custody, Mushtaq spilled the beans. ''There were some shocking revelations,'' says a senior police officer. Sources say his tips led the police to Shabir Bukhari and Shakeel Ahmad Sofi, two 'protected' mainstream political activists hailing from Kreeri village in Baramullah.
Sofi, say the police, was a member of the Youth National Conference and had a room in the high-security Dolphin hotel for political activists who face a threat to their lives. Bukhari, a lawyer, was a member of the Youth Congress. Both parties, however, have denied their memberships.
According to the police, both Sofi and Bukhari acted as conduits, ferrying militants from their hideouts to high security zones.
''They brought two fidayeens from Sumlar Bandipore to Srinagar along with a huge cache of arms in a Gypsy and crossed several security force checkpoints using their protected status. They planned to attack (CPM leader Mohammed Yusuf) Tarigami inside his official residence on October 10. The two fidayeens stayed with Sofi and Bukhari,'' says a police officer.
Tarigami escaped the attack but junior education minister Dr Ghulam Nabi Lone fell to the bullets of militants. ''One militant was killed in the attack but Sofi and Bukhari helped the other reach his hideout safely.''
Police say Sofi and Bukhari, one-and-half years in the business, also facilitated other high profile attacks.
IGP Rajendra told The Sunday Express that this new trend of militant infiltration into mainstream political parties was definitely worrying. ''We busted a network in 2004 and discovered people who were in league with top politicians,'' he says. ''We had thought that was a one-time thing. But recent developments are worrying.''
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