Imagine yourself in grave, slain Kashmir cop had said in a Facebook post

Srinagar: The security forces on Saturday enforced a security lockdown in parts of Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar as tensions were running high in the aftermath of fourteen deaths in violence. Among the slain were eight policemen shot dead by militants in three separate attacks, three Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) militants and an equal number of civilians.

LeT’s commander for Anantnag, Junaid Matto, was along with two associates Nasir Wani and Adil Mushtaq Mir killed in a daylong encounter in the district’s Aarwani area on Friday.

The slain militants’ bodies were retrieved from beneath the smouldering debris of two residential houses blown up by the security forces in their final assault against the holed up militants.

The authorities termed Matto’s killing a major success against the militants particularly the LeT. “He was involved in a number of terror activities including the killing of policemen,” a police spokesman said.

He added that Wani had joined the militancy in 2016 and was involved in terrorist activities in the area whereas Adil had also joined militant ranks last year.

Meanwhile, in a chronicle of his death foretold, Feroz Ahmed Dar had written, “Just imagine... yourself in your grave. Down there in that dark hole...Alone.”

The 32-year-old Jammu and Kashmir police officer was buried on Friday night in the family’s ancestral graveyard in Dogripora village in Pulwama district with many from the village and his department bidding him a tearful adieu.

As his family and friends prepared for his last journey, his words written on January 18, 2013 came back to haunt.

“Did you ever stop for a while and asked yourself, what is going to happen to me the first night in my grave? Think about the moment your body is being washed and prepared to your grave.

“Think about the day people will be carrying you to your grave And your families crying ...think about the moment you are put in your grave,” he had written on his Facebook wall.

As Dogripora mourned its hero, his premonition of death echoed from his “first night” in the grave.

Villagers queued up outside Dar’s home to offer their condolences. His two daughters — six-year-old Addah and two-year-old Simran — watched bewildered, unable to understand the sudden rush of people at their house.

His wife Mubeena Akthar and aged parents wailed and beat their chests, trying to come to terms with the devastating loss.

Nicknamed Dabang (daring) by his friends and a “one man army”, Dar had wished earnestly for the situation in the Kashmir Valley to return to normal.

“Oh God! when will be the day we see normal Kashmir,” he had written on his Facebook page on March 8, 2013.

While family and his colleagues grieved, so did his batchmates. “Bus itna yaad rahe, ek saathi aur bhi tha...” The refrain of the Bollywood song from LoC Kargil recalling the sacrifices of a soldier echoed their grief.