Author: Mufti Islah
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: June 13, 2001
The increasing use of mosques as
hideouts by militants is being described by security agencies as a sign
that militants have lost public goodwill and are now trying to whip up
religious passions. The past 11 years of conflict in the Valley have seen
several instances - three in the past fortnight - when militants have used
mosques.
Ahsok Bhan, IGP, Kashmir, claims
there was a "groundswell of public support" for the police and security
forces to go after the militants hiding in the mosque at Shangus. The incident
has served as a warning for militants that they cannot take religious places
for granted.
It wasn't just Hurriyat leader Abdul
Gani Lone who said, at a press conference here, that militants should avoid
using religious places like mosques as shelters. Religious scholars, while
condemning both militants and security forces for the damage caused to
the mosque, believe militants should exclude religious places from their
scheme of things.
Less than a fortnight ago, militants
had taken shelter in a mosque at Khanwara, Shopian. Security forces laid
siege to that mosque, too, and withdrew only after Chief Minister Farooq
Abdullah intervened and the militants were given safe passage.
More recently, six women devotees
were killed and 60 injured in the premises of Sufi saint Sheikh Nooruddin
Wali's shrine at Chrar-e-Sharief after an unidentified person lobbed a
grenade on them during a Friday prayer congregation.
Chrar was also the scene of the
most well-known among such sieges. On May 9, 1995, an encounter had broken
out between security forces and militants led by Mast Gul at the shrine.
At the end of the three-day clash, the shrine complex was completely gutted,
as were several nearby houses. And Mast Gul escaped, along with 30 of his
men.
