Five days before the 33rd death anniversary of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq, the J&K Police have arrested the main attacker who fired gunshots at the head priest of Kashmir on May 19, 1990.
On the fateful day, Mirwaiz Farooq was allegedly killed by terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen who accused him of being a ‘peacenik’ and an ‘Indian agent’, according to an official press statement issued by J&K Police.
The conspiracy was hatched in 1990 in April by Bangroo, Javed alias Ajmal Khan and Ayub Dar alias Ishfaq, who belong to Hizbul Mujahideen.
“Bangroo, who was then heading Hizbul Mujahideen, instructed Javed and Ayub to plan elimination of Mirwaiz Moulvi Farooq. Javed was then working as an Area Commander of Hizbul-Mujahideen in the downtown area of Srinagar; whereas the Javed was working as a Group Commander in that very area,” police said.
“Later on, Abdul Rehman Shigan alias Inayat and Zahoor Ahmed alias Bilal also joined the conspiracy. It came out in the investigation that, in the second week of May, 1990, under the instructions of Javed Ahmed Bhat alias Ajmal Khan, Mohd. Ayub Dar alias Ishfaq and Abdul Rehman Shigan alias Inayat had visited the residence of Moulvi Farooq at Nageen, Srinagar and had requested him for financial help to their terrorist organization i.e. Hizbul Mujahideen. Moulvi Farooq had agreed to help them and had asked them to meet after 2/3 days during the morning hours,” the statement said.
"Thereafter, two accused surveyed the area as per their plan and informed the details to Javed Ahmed Bhat alias Ajmal Khan. It was on 21.05.1990 that the three accused namely Mohd Ayub Dar alias Ishfaq , Abdul Rehman Shingan alias Inayat and Zahoor Ahmed alias Bilal alias Jana armed with loaded pistol visited the `Mirwaiz Manzil' at Nageen. Javed instructed that, out of the three accused persons, Zahoor would fire on Moulvi Farooq while Ayub Dar and Rehman Shingan were to provide cover,” the statement said.
“As per the plan, they all reached the gate of Mirwaiz Manzil and met Maqbool Shah, the gate-keeper and informed him that they wanted to meet Moulvi Farooq. Maqbool Shah then asked Gulam Qadir Sofi, the gardener, to take them to the Personal Assistant as he himself was going to the market,” it said.
Accordingly, the gardener took the three to the Personal Assistant namely Saidur Rehman , who asked them about their names and one of them disclosed his fake name as Gulzar Farooq R/o. Batmaloo. That name was written by the Personal Assistant on a slip of paper and the said slip was sent inside the room of Moulvi Farooq through the gardener Ghulam Qadir Sofi,” it said.
“After sometime, Moulvi Farooq called the three accused inside the Office, on which Zahoor Ahmed alias Bilal entered the room of Moulvi Farooq and the remaining two accused persons including Javed Bhat took position in the PA's room. On entering the room of Moulvi Farooq, Zahoor Ahmed alias Bilal fired several rounds on Moulvi Farooq from his pistol and immediately, accused Inayat also fired from his pistol in the air while coming out of PA's room, which hit the outside wall of the Office,” it said.
“On hearing the sound of firing, the gardener came inside the Office and tried to catch hold of Ishfaq, who was trying to escape. However, all the accused persons escaped giving a push to the Gardener Ghulam Qadir Sofi. Accused Bilal also tried to run away, but he was caught by Ghulam Qadir Sofi. There was a scuffle between the two, in which Bilal sustained an injury below his right eye. Later, after firing one round from his pistol, Bilal also managed to escape. The accused persons ran towards Kashmir University, who were followed by Ghulam Qadir Sofi upto the main road and near the University Gate, the assailants ran towards Soura through the University compound and reached Chatargam in the afternoon of 21.05.1990. They then reported killing of Moulvi Farooq to Abdulla Bangroo alias Ajmal Khan. All the three accused persons were directed by Abdullah Bangroo, to go underground for sometime,” the statement added.
“Case FIR No 61/1990 came to be registered in Police Station Nageen, Srinagar to investigate the crime. Thereafter the government of the day transferred the investigation to CBI on 11 June 1990,” the statement said.
The killing had sparked widespread anger and protests in parts of Kashmir during which several civilians were killed in retaliatory action by security forces to prevent the situation from going out on control.
“After a long and arduous legal process of investigation and prosecution, the designated TADA court, in 2009, convicted the only arrested accused Ayub Dar for life. The remaining four remained on run. While two (Abdullah Bangroo & Rehman Shigan) died in encounters, Javaid Bhat and Ayub Bhat managed to evade,” the police statement said.
“Ayub Dar, the convicted terrorist and one of the killers appealed against his conviction, which however, was upheld by the Division Bench of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Criminal Appeal No.535 of 2009 on 21 July 2010,” it said.