Multi-dimensional truth: Just too many
sides to Rajouri's bravery saga
Truth has generally three sides, your side, my side and the
ultimate truth, which lies in between the two! Yet in the militancy- infested
state of J&K, this adage does not fit the bill anyway. Here the truth always
has many sides and still that never comes out which one may call the ultimate
truth. Reason, here the infamous trinity of Media, Army and Police (MAP) blurs
the facts so deeply that the ultimate truth becomes an innocent casualty.
So no wonder the famous story of Blind men and the elephant has been
replicated in the case of Rajouri killing also, which has put a sleepy hamlet
Thannamandi of the border district under constant media glare since Sunday. And it is this constant glare, which has given the story too many angles which may confound any sane person. Hence goes the journey to discover too many sides to one truth.
KASHMIR TIMES: gave credit to the siblings Aijaz, 20 and Rukhsana, 22 for
killing the terrorist in the story which appeared on Tuesday. The story was
based on the inputs provided by SHO Thannamandi Mohammed Ashraf (quoted also).
No identification of terrorist was given because there was no official
confirmation on this account, neither by the police handout nor by army handout
issued to the media on Monday. Number of terrorists was given three as mentioned
by SHO Thannamandi. No reason was specified behind the incident.
DAILY EXCELSIOR: Siblings were given the credit in the story based on inputs
provided by the police sources. Reason behind the incident though was not
specified yet there was a hint in the para.After questioning the two brothers,
the militants ...started beating up Noor Ahmed , his wife Rashida Begum and
Vakalat Hussain ..describing them as agents of security forces. In this story
however Aijaz was elder, 20 year old and Rukhsana was younger, 17 year old.
Identity of the slain militant was established as Osama - a dreaded Jaish
commander, quoting SSP Rajouri Shafqat Watali.
PIONEER: Here siblings were described as the protagonists quoting SHO
Thannamandi Ashraf. No reason behind the incident was given and the identity of
the militant too was not established. TRIBUNE: Siblings Rukhsana, 20 along with
her brother Ajaz, 18 axed a militant to death. The number of terrorists was
three. No reason was specified.
Quoting locals, the story added: The girl killed one of the militants with an
axe and injured the others, who later fled. The third militant, who was unarmed,
carried his injured partner on his back and left the body behind. The father and
uncle of Rukhsana also managed to snatch the AK rifles from the militants. (Not
Rukhsana, Ajaz or their mother as most of the stories reported).
Immediately after the incident, intercepts by the security forces revealed that
the slain militant was named Osama and was a commander with theLeT outfit. We are investigating the matter. If what the locals are claiming is right, we will
recommend the girl for a bravery award, said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, Rajouri-Poonch range, SD Singh Jamwal.
INTERESTINGLY THE DAILY NEXT DAY REPORTED: Fortyeight hours after the 20-year- old girl from Shahdra Sharief village in Rajouri axed a militant to death and forced two others to flee without their weapons late on Sunday night, the
government is yet to announce an award for her because the identity of the
militant could not be established. The police said it was still not established
whether they were militants from across the border or not.
The weapons, including AK 56 and AK 47, left behind strongly suggest that they
were militants but it is yet to be established, said SSP. Shafqat Ali Watali,
in contrast to news reports that have identified the one killed as Uzafa Shah, a
Lashkar-e-Taiba area commander.
INDIAN EXPRESS (THE HIMALAYAN MAIL): Here Kashmir girl axed to death an armed Lashkar-e-Taiba commander..along with her 18-year old rother..snatched guns and opened fire on two other militants. .The police identified the dead militant as Uzafa Shah, a Pak national, operating in Rajouri-Poonch for the last 4 years, only Laskhkar commander in the area who had survived.
Rajouri SSP Shafqat Watali was quoted in the report. According to DIG SDS
Jamwal, the family retaliated when the militants made an attempt to molest 20-
year old. THE HINDU: A family put up resistance and killed a top-ranking
Lashkar-e-Taiba militant who, along with two others, intruded into its house in
Rajouri and attacked the occupants on Sunday night. The three militants knocked at the door of Noor Ahmad at Shahdara Sharief around 9.30 p.m., but the family, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Shafqat Ali Watali, did not open the door.
However, Ahmads son Aijaz and daughter Rukhsana mustered courage and hit back with lathis and axes. At this, two militants fled, one of them injured, but the
top ranking militant, identified as Abu Osama by the police, could not escape
the familys wrath. He was first hit with axes and then fired upon with his own
rifle.
Watali said Abu Osama was a Pakistani national and had been operating in the
area for the last 4 years. Here new angle was: Noor Ahmad told journalists in
Rajouri that the militants were enquiring his daughter about a case of alleged
rape by two local civilians. The case was two months-old and, according to the
police, dismissed by court after the girl herself admitted that no one had raped
her.
Waqalat Hussain, who was injured when the intruders fired a few shots, said the
gunmen were also enquiring about the character of Noors daughter and they
repeatedly asked, Why did you first approach police and then withdraw the
case?
This angle was later worked out in detail by HIMALAYAN MAIL on Wednesday.
HINDUSTAN TIMES: The newspaper reported, Rukhsana,18, shot the divisional
commander of Lashkare- Taiba militant outfit at her house late on Sunday to save
her honour and family. Rukhsana first hit the terrorist with an axe and after he
hit the floor, she picked up his gum and shot him. She had no training in
handling firearms. Osama is active in Rajouri-Poonch area for the past 10
years.
The report adds: The police is tightlipped over the motive of the militants for
being there at that point of time but sources in the area said militants entered
homes at late hours mostly with the intention of grabbing women for sex. When Noor (father of Rukhsana) opened the door to let Waqalat (uncle) in, two armed terrorists entered his room where Rukhsana was asleep. The terrorists first accused Noor of being a police informer and started beating his wife and him.. Ajaz hit him on the head with an axe before grabbing his rifle ...Rukhsana jumped out from under the bed, hit him with an axe, snatched his rifle and fired at him. Other two had fled at this point.
Two months ago, two people had kidnapped Rukhsana. She was traced the same day, but there was no sign of the accused. SSP S Watali said it was unclear whether or not the terrorists had links with the kidnapping accused. ASIAN AGE: Here a village woman and her family killed a militant and injured and drove away the other in the frontier district of Rajouri late on Sunday night.
Police officials in Srinagar said that the militants barged into the house of
one Noor Hussein in Upper Kalsi Shadra Sharief, a remote village of Rajouri, and
opened fire at the inmates injuring one of the family members Wakalat Hussein.
The other family members, including a young woman Rashida Begum, overpowered the gunmen and snatched their AK assault rifles and then launched a counter-attack using an axe and lathis. One of the intruding militants was killed on the spot whereas his injured accomplice fled from the house. Later, the family handed the weapons over to the police.
However, independent sources said that the militants group comprised three who wanted to stay at Noor Husseins house for the night. When the family refused to oblige them the gunmen started abusing and beating them. On this, one of the family members caught hold of an axe and other took up sticks to retaliate. On seeing two of his accomplice felling and the other in a pool of blood, the third gunman opened fire while fleeing injuring the houseowners brother Wakalat Hussein.
TIMES OF INDIA: reported, A humble Muslim woman in a remote Jammu village slew a dreaded Lashkar terrorist single-handedly. Exhibiting astonishing, raw
courage, Rashida Begum took on the two terrorists who had barged into her home late Sunday night in Thanna Mandi village in Rajouri district.
The woman, in her early forties, grabbed an axe and swung it wildly, killing one
of the armed terrorists and injuring the other.
A Rajouri-based police officer said the two terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the
Pakistan-based group that carried out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had entered Noor Ahmads home around 9 PM with the intention of holding the family hostage. Police said the two also wanted information on some local targets that Noor and his family members refused to provide. Angered by the resistance, the two began beating them up, threatening to eliminate the family, when Noors wife, Rashida, took them by surprise, pouncing on one of them from behind. She brought down an axe in powerful blows, killing the terrorist on the spot.
She then charged at his partner who, nonplussed, was trying to gather his wits.
Rashida and the rest of the family members soon overpowered him and snatched his weapon. However, the terrorist escaped under the cover of darkness, but not before receiving sharp cuts in the face-off with the furious housewife. Rajouris additional superintendent of police Shabir Ahmed said investigations were on to establish to identity of the duo but the slain terrorist was believed to be Osama, a Pakistan-based LeT commander, wanted in many cases of extortion and terror related activities.
IRONY REFLECTS IN WHAT ITS ELECTRONIC CHANNEL (QUOTING AGENCIES) REPORTS SAME DAY. TIMES NOW: As the country bid farewell to goddess Durga, the demon-slayer, on Dashami and witnessed the evil king Ravana being vanquished on Dussehra, a humble Muslim woman in a remote Jammu village slew a dreaded Lashkar terrorist single-handedly.
.. 21-year-old Rukhsana ... three terrorists barged
..overpowered the men and
even shot dead one. Courageous Rukhsana and her family overpowered three
terrorists, as the 21-yr-old grabbed the terrorists gun, and shot him dead.
Rukhsanas mother Rashida Begum said, My son managed to grab the terrorists gun after hitting him with an axe. Another terrorist tried to attack me but my
daughter grabbed his gun.