Fri, 06 July 2012 Kashmir Reader- Srinagar: It may take a while for the prosecution to authenticate Indian army Major Avtar Singh’s death in the court, but his ghost continues to haunt his victims in Kashmir.
Major Avtar Singh of the Indian Territorial Army, the prime accused in the 1996 custodial murder of rights activist and lawyer Jaleel Andrabi, was a much feared figure for the locals. He reportedly committed suicide at his Fresno house in the US before shooting his wife and three children on June 10.
Junaid Ahmed, now 32, who lived in Batamaloo area of Srinagar, is still haunted by Singh’s brutal ways, when he was posted in the area at the height of the armed conflict in Kashmir.
“It was the night of April 18, 1997, when we heard a knock on the door. When we opened the door, troopers led by Major Avtar entered the house and started beating us, including my sister,” recalls Junaid who was picked up by the Major.
“He would carry a list of people and that night he picked up around 24 youth from Batamaloo and other areas.”
Out of the 24, a majority would fall prey to Avtar Singh’s wrath. “I was taken by the Major to the Palhalan army garrison,” recalls Junaid, who now owns a shop in Srinagar. Junaid says he remembers a youth who was picked up by the Major from Eidgah the same night. A few days later, he says, the Major took him and that boy to a riverside in Sopore.
“Our hands were tied from behind. The Major ordered his troops to throw the boy into the Jhelum and they did,” says Junaid. “I closed my eyes and started praying thinking I would be the next but I was brought back.”
“I feared that nobody would know about my fate.” Junaid recalls the time when he was held in Palhalan camp in 1997 and the Major brought a local teacher over.
“The Major tore his undershirt, bundled it and shoved it in the teacher’s throat with his cane,” recollects Junaid. “The teacher died in front of my eyes.”
Junaid says he was later shifted to Shariefabad army camp, on the outskirts of Srinagar. Major Avtar would show up there too, this time bringing his neighbours, Mohammad Shaban and his son Yahya Khan of Batamaloo, to the camp.
“Yahya was already dead when he was brought to the camp, his father was tortured to death subsequently,” Junaid says.
Junaid was released from Shariefabad camp two and a half months later. His memory of what he came across inside the garrison is heart numbing. “The Major was notorious for burning people alive in an iron tank inside the Shariefabad camp,” Junaid claims to have known.
Another victim of Major Avtar, Maqsood Ahmad, now 28, of Batamaloo remembers how the ruthless army officer raided his house and beat up his octogenarian grandfather.
“It was late in the night and I along with my cousins was watching a movie when we heard a slight knock at window,” says Maqsood, a government employee.
“As we moved towards the window, troopers broke the main door and barged in,” says Maqsood describing how the entire family was bundled into one room.
“Everyone trembled with fear. My grandfather dared to ask the Major the reason for the raid, the Major slapped him in the face with such force that he fainted,” Maqsood remembers. “He had to be hospitalised.”
Both Maqsood and Junaid say that the Major was constantly looking for a Tehreek-e-Mujahideen militant from Batamaloo, Hanief Dar.
Hanief had reportedly targeted the Major many times. In order to nab him, the Major would randomly pick up youth from the area. “He killed most of them,” says Junaid. “He had a free hand to kill.”