Off-duty policeman shot at by militants in Kashmir’s Pulwama dies

A day after the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit, militants shot at an off-duty policeman, who later succumbed to injuries, in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday.

Reports said unidentified militants fired upon constable Reyaz Ahmad Thokar inside his residence at Gudroo, Pulwama. He was rushed to a hospital for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries.

“Injured Police Constable Reyaz Ahmad Thoker #succumbed to his injuries at hospital & attained #martyrdom. We pay rich #tributes to the #martyr & stand by his family at this critical juncture (sic),” Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.

“#Terrorist fired upon Police Constable Reyaz Ahmad Thoker S/O Ali Mohammed at his residence at Gudroo, #Pulwama. He has been shifted to Hospital. Area #cordoned off. Further details shall follow (sic),” Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.

On May 7, another off-duty policeman was shot dead by militants on the outskirts of Srinagar city. On May 12, a Kashmiri Pandit government employee was shot dead by the militants in his office in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

On March 26, in a similar incident, militants shot dead a policeman and his brother in Budgam district.

In the last few months more than 20 people, including off-duty policemen, migrant labourers, members of minority community and political workers have been killed in militant attacks across Kashmir while several others have been injured.

Police maintain that the militants were choosing soft targets to make news and such killings are carried out to instill fear in the minds of common people. “Most of the time, hybrid militants carry out attacks on civilians and unarmed policemen. A pistol in majority of cases or an odd AK-47 in some cases, is all the weapon their handlers trust these recruits with,” a senior police officer told DH.

“A successful kill, whether pre-planned or carried out at the spur of the moment, is all that matters for the baptism of these local boys into terrorism. Any local recruit who kills a policeman or a political activist immediately understands that it is a one-way road for him thereafter. This realisation makes such boys more subservient to the dictates of their handlers,” he revealed.