Video of miltants questioning cop goes viral

A video showing Hizbul Mujahideen militants interrogating a policeman before he was shot at in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district recently, has sent a fresh wave of terror across the Valley.

A 1.22-minute long video, which surfaced on social networking sites, shows militants interrogating special police officer (SPO) Aqib Wagay before he was shot at in his both legs at Puchal, Pulwama, 24 km from here, on Tuesday.

Wagay is heard telling the ultras about his visit to army camps in the district and he also names other youth who purportedly work for the army as informers. The militants, one of them speaking in Urdu, are heard asking Wagay about who all visit the army camp. He (Wagay) names two youths. “I used to go in the past but I don’t go anymore,” he is heard saying in the video.

The militants, who are not seen in the video, also questioned Wagay about people who buy liquor from the army camps. He then names the people who are involved in the liquor supply and saying that he will never visit the camp again. “Kill me if I ever go to the camp again,” he is heard as saying.

Wagay, who was working as an SPO in J&K police, is recovering at Army’s 92-Base Hospital in Srinagar but his leg was amputated to save his life.

The SPOs are recruited by the police on a fixed monthly remuneration of Rs 6,000. The wages of SPOs are given by the state government and reimbursed by the Centre under the Security Related Expenditure scheme. The police maintain SPOs are an important element in their strategy to combat militancy.