Peace Watch » Featured » Dr. Abdul Ahad Guroo – By Abdul Majid Zargar
Dr. Abdul Ahad Guroo – By Abdul Majid Zargar
Covert action has remained and will continue to remain a controversial instrument of state policy for India in Kashmir. Translated into execution, it allows it to adopt the smoke screen of plausible deniability, wherein the action itself may be visible and verifiable but its links are concealed, so that it can easily deny any involvement. Covert actions in India falls within the domain of the intelligence community generally (though not often) without the consent and knowledge of political leadership as against USA and other western countries where it has to be mandated by political leadership. Dr. Guroo became victim of one such covert operation.
Dr. Guroo’s ,only fault was that besides being a cardio vascular thoracic surgeon of national & international repute, he was a human rights activist to the core. Since the onset of armed insurgency in the state in early 1989, he rendered yeoman’s service to those at the receiving end of the security forces whether as a Doctor or a human rights activist. He would bring instances of grave human rights violations in Kashmir to the notice of Various international forums .In fact a testimony by James Baker before the United Nations Security Council in 1991 was based entirely on evidences & supporting documents provided by Dr. Guroo.
On Ist April 1993 he was abducted by few gun totting boys near Soura while on way back home from his Hospital. The next day his dead body was found in the vicinity of the area wherefrom he was abducted. The State Govt. was quick to blame Hizub-ul-Mujahideen for the gory murder.
The identity of the actual murderer would have remained a close secret but for a chilling revelation made by Wajahat Habibullah, former Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir & Chief Information Commissioner of India in his book. “My Kashmir Conflict and the Prospects of Enduring Peace”(page 81-82) which is reproduced hereunder:
“Guru, a leading Srinagar Physician, who had founded a Medical College, had commanded wide respect; he presented a reasonable face of separatism. He was therefore, an inconvenience to the Police. The Police made an arrangement with the terrorist Zulkarnain, then in custody, who agreed to kill Guru in exchange for his release. But to ensure that this collusion remained secret, Zulkarnain was killed shortly thereafter and the Director General of Police, B.S.Bedi, trumpeted his death as a triumph for the security forces, who had killed a dangerous terrorist in an armed encounter. But the truth was somewhat different. Instead of killing Zulkarnain in an armed encounter, the police stormed the home where, under the mistaken presumption that he was safe after having fulfilled his end of the bargain, he was consorting with a lady friend.”
It needs to be stated here that a few days before his murder, Chandan Mitra, MP & Journalist wrote an article In a national daily in which he Presented Dr. Guroo as a doubtful character being handled and used by both ISI & RAW, the premium intelligence agencies of Pakistan & India. This article was in fact a precursor to Dr. Guroo’s actual killing through a covert operation
India professes itself to be a democracy, the strong edifice of which is “rule of law”“ .It is, therefore in the interest of preserving that democracy to order arrest of guilty security official(s) and try them under law of the land. It is a misconception that such types of actions will demoralize police or security forces. Rather non-action would infuse a culture of impunity among them and instead of becoming valuable security assets, they will turn into unavoidable liabilities.
(Hazaroon Sal Nargis apni beynoori pe rotey hein-Badi Mushkil say hota hein Chaman mein deedawar Paida)
(The author is a practicing chartered Accountant. Feed back at amzargar1@indiatimes.com)
Filed under: Featured · Tags: death, dr guroo, Kashmir, kashmir police, majeed zargar, mystery, wajahat habibullah
Dear sir,
Bilal Ahmad Bhat @ Bilal Lelhari of Lelhar Pulwama
The Jammu and Kashmir Police and Indian army achieved a major success when it succeeded in eliminating a LeT Divisional Commander Bilal Ahmad Bhat @ Bilal Lelhari who was involved in killing of Dr. Sheikh Jalal and his two police guards in an attack at Pampore, besides , in the killing of 2 Army jawans at Kadalbal and in attack near Hotel Silver Star. Bilal Lelhari was killed along with his associate in an encounter at Reshipora,(Awantipora) Pulwama, today.
On a specific information, Pulwama Police, 50 RR and 183 CRPF launched a cordon and search operation at village Reshipora, Kakpora in Pulwama district, today. The militants present in the village fired on the forces triggering an encounter. Two terrorists were killed in the encounter.
The slain militants were identified as LeT Divisional Commander Bilal Ahmad Bhat @ Bilal Lelhari of Lelhar Pulwama and Mudasir Ahmad Sheikh of Kisergam Pulwama.
Bilal Lelhari was involved in killing of world’s top cardiologist Dr. Sheikh Jalal and his two police guards in an attack at Pampore near Nambalbal on 18th July last year, besides, in the killing of 2 Army jawans and snatching of AK rifle at Kadalbal. Bilal was also involved in the attack on Army convoy near Silver Star and was also involved in the conspiracy of Hyderpora attack on Army.
According to reports reached on here, After seeing patients in Pampore free of cost since last 42 years Dr Sheikh Jalal came out of his home to go to Tulsi Bagh/Srinagar to see patients there free of cost. It was a hot day and fasting month. Everyone was tired and sleeping but Dr Sheikh Jalal came out to see the patients waiting for him at Srinagar who had come from far flung areas. Mujahid Cammander Molvi Bilal of Lelhaar was hiding before a wall near Ghulam Hassan Wani and when Dr Jalal was near him he came out and showered 60 bullets. All the people on the road were stunned and then Molvi Bilal sat in a sumo and left from Khrew Road. In the pious month of Ramzan he killed an innocent doctor who was on his way to see poor patients..
Meanwhile, Two terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed on Sunday in an encounter with the police and security forces in Pulwama district of South Kashmir.Sources said that the Pulwama District Police and troops of the Rashtriya Rifles 50th battalion swooped down on a hideout at Rishipora Kakpora on a tip-off about the presence of the militants. Both were killed in the three-hour-long gunbattle. Deputy Inspector-General of Police in South Kashmir Vijay Kumar told The Hindu that the LeT’s most wanted militant and “District Commander” Bilal Ahmad Bhat of Lelhar and a fresh recruit Mudasar Ahmad Sheikh of Kisrigam Pulwama died in the gunbattle. One AK-47 rifle and one pistol were recovered from the site of the operation.
The DIG claimed Bilal’s killing as a major achievement for the police and the security forces. He said that after Qasim, a dreaded Pakistani commander, Bilal was the LeT’s senior most militant in South Kashmir.
He was involved in an attack on the Army in 2012 when one soldier died. Bilal then escaped after looting their AK-47 rifles. He was also among the three local militants who attacked cardiologist Dr. Sheikh Jalal at Pampore in July 2013, killing two of his armed police guards on the spot. Dr. Jalal got critically injured and died in a month.
According to some eye witness reports that After seeing patients in Pampore free of cost Dr Sheikh Jalal came out of his home to go to Tulsi Bagh/Srinagar to see patients there free of cost. It was a hot day and fasting month. Everyone was tired and sleeping but Dr Sheikh Jalal sahib came out to see the patients waiting for him at Srinagar who had come from far flung areas. terrorist Cammander Molvi Bilal of Lelhaar was hiding before a wall near Ghulam Hassan Wani and when Dr Sheikh Jalal was near him he came out and showered dozens of bullets to his body guards. All the people on the road were stunned and then Molvi Bilal sat in a sumo and left from Khrew Road. In the pious month of Ramzan he killed an innocent doctor who was on his way to see poor patients. (Writer-South Asia)
Wajahat Habibullah, for being Div Com, might be privy to what happened with dr Guru. But he has left a serious question unanswered. He says JK Police was not comfortable with Guru and so got him killed. But as we know the situation then, JK police was a non-actor then. The Srinagar city was under the control of BSF, rural Kashmir was handed over to army. Arrests, crackdowns, search operations all were carried by these forces. Police was acting like Red Cross then, collecting bodies, burying them and handing them over to families. Most members of the police were sympathetic towards Kashmir movement. Just around Dr Guru's killing, we witnessed how JK Police revolted and hit streets against government. Government had to call army to crush police rebellion. Around 600 policemen had to surrender before the army. They were disarmed and terminated from their services. If we go by the statement of JKLF then it said: Two JKLF activists met Dr Guru and Dr Khursheed Alam in SKIMS and asked them to attend party's supreme council meeting. Both Dr Guru and Dr Alam hired autoricksha to reach the meeting venue. Dr Guru was kidnapped by armed persons midway and killed. It is anybody's guess that Dr Guru would not have accepted the meeting invitation if he would not have known the two persons who messaged him for the meeting. If it is a fact that Dr Khursheed Alam too was with Dr Guru at the time of his abduction.
Moreover, I, along with Altaf Hussain (them working for BBC) visited the house at Nagbal where Zulkarnain was killed. The inmates said that a BSF party camping at Bagh-e-Ali Mardaan cracked down on the house and shot Zulkarnain dead.
Wajahat Habibullah, for being Div Com, might be privy to what happened with dr Guru. But he has left a serious question unanswered. He says JK Police was not comfortable with Guru and so got him killed. But as we know the situation then, JK police was a non-actor then. The Srinagar city was under the control of BSF, rural Kashmir was handed over to army. Arrests, crackdowns, search operations all were carried by these forces. Police was acting like Red Cross then, collecting bodies, burying them and handing them over to families. Most members of the police were sympathetic towards Kashmir movement. Just around Dr Guru's killing, we witnessed how JK Police revolted and hit streets against government. Government had to call army to crush police rebellion. Around 600 policemen had to surrender before the army. They were disarmed and terminated from their services. If we go by the statement of JKLF then it said: Two JKLF activists met Dr Guru and Dr Khursheed Alam in SKIMS and asked them to attend party's supreme council meeting. Both Dr Guru and Dr Alam hired autoricksha to reach the meeting venue. Dr Guru was kidnapped by armed persons midway and killed. It is anybody's guess that Dr Guru would not have accepted the meeting invitation if he would not have known the two persons who messaged him for the meeting. If it is a fact that Dr Khursheed Alam too was with Dr Guru at the time of his abduction.
Moreover, I, along with Altaf Hussain (them working for BBC) visited the house at Nagbal where Zulkarnain was killed. The inmates said that a BSF party camping at Bagh-e-Ali Mardaan cracked down on the house and shot Zulkarnain dead.