Recalling an encounter

Monday’s terrorist attack in Srinagar city, killing 8 men of the security forces, just a day before the prime minister and UPA chairperson were to visit the Kashmir valley, has taken me back to the encounter I witnessed in Srinagar city years ago. 

I was just back from London after a year’s stay there and had joined Star News at Jammu in August 2006. Just a month later, I was told to go to Srinagar for reporting the fierce protests in the Kashmir valley against the centre’s plan to execute Afzal Guru on 20^th October 2006. It was the last week of September. I took a flight to reach Srinagar.

Within just over an hour, I felt, I had reached a different country. Though, Jammu and Srinagar are the two main cities of the same state, but there’s hardly any similarity. The culture, the language, the climes, everything is so different.

During the first couple of days, there were angry protest demonstrations in various parts of Srinagar city, which subsided after Afzal’s execution was stayed. I visited Afzal’s family one evening, on the outskirts of Sopore town. His wife Tabassum was to join a debate through the OB link, on a show on the channel.

It was the holy month of Ramzan.  The weather was pleasant,  but I used to be mostly confined to my room in Ahdoo’s Hotel, as the entire Srinagar town would shut down before 6 PM.

On the morning of October 4, I was at the press colony with my camera crew. Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani was to reach there for a protest demonstration against the government’s drive to install electricity meters across the state.  But before Geelani and his supporters even began to converge, sound of a gunshot was heard. While I was just looking at the birds flying away due to the loud noise, most of the photojournalists hopped onto our Sumo and the driver began to drive hastily towards the direction where gunshot was fired. The spot was short distance away.

Three terrorists had fired shots and hurled a grenade at a CRPF picket in Budshah Chowk. The terrorists then took position in  a room on the first floor of a small hotel, overlooking the CRPF picket. The encounter was on. I was yet to call up my office and break this news to the desk.

Budshah Chowk is a busy market area , bustling with people, just a couple of hundred yards away from the famous Lal Chowk. But, at that point of time, there was just CRPF and state police men seen holding their weapons, ready to pump bullets into the three terrorists. Soon the Special Operations Group of the J&K police also joined the operation. OB vans formed a long queue, cameras were beaming live pictures of the fierce gunfight. Someone from my office staff got me a bulletproof vest and helmet. We were in the thick of some real action.  

Although, I was nervous witnessing the exchange for fire just a hundred meters away, but what was hugely confounding for me was seeing the Zee News reporter prostrating in the middle of the road speaking into a microphone, pretending to take cover, while his cameraman was filming his antics standing there without any protection. And there were couple of other TV reporters standing still ahead of where he was doing dandawat.

I was also wired and began giving live updates on my channel. After a brief while, having understood the positions of the security forces and the terrorists, I was well ensconced. But, this thing wouldn’t end so soon. 

Intermittent firing continued till late in the evening. I had done several live chats to give updates of the encounter before my cameraman pointed out to me that I had repeatedly used the word ‘terrorists’, instead of ‘militant’ as the norm was for the Kashmiri media.

While the bullets were exchanged, and the jawans fighting there didn’t even have time to take their eye of the sight of the guns, journalists and photographers did have the luxury of affording time for a cup of tea or a soft drink.

After hours into this encounter, even the sound of the gunshots sounded predictable as they were fired from fixed positions. Soon, it was dark and we were advised to return the next morning.

There wasn’t much exchange of fire during the night. The next morning, shortly after we returned to the site of the encounter, a terrorist ran out of the hotel and was instantly killed by the alert jawans. I was told that because the terrorists had nearly exhausted their ammunition, they would try to do something audacious to cause maximum damage to the forces.

A little while later, another terrorist jumped out of the window, from where they were earlier firing and hurling grenades, and landed on the road where, some distance away, the media persons had positioned the cameras. The fidayeen fired indiscriminately at the policemen. While he did that, the jawans returned fire. His body took some bullets, rest flew freely towards the media contingent. The predictable flight and sound of the bullets had been disturbed, shaking most of us journalists from our indolence that sunny morning. I hadn’t yet fully grasped the situation, and I found myself running for cover. First I hid myself in our OB van, then behind a huge pillar in the nearby market.  But then the sudden burst of bullets stopped and I came out of hiding to see a dead terrorist laying in a pool of blood.

The bulletproof vest and helmet, that I had dumped in the OB that morning, remained so dear to me rest of that day, I took them off only after DGP Gopal Sharma himself declared the end of the encounter. It had lasted 27 hours and it was the most high profile attack in the Srinagar city in more than sixteen months.

Even after the gunfight ended, barrels of klashnikovs still continued produced fire as the sticky fingers that had rested on the trigger for the last 27 hours had become habitual. Couple of shots were fired into the road when I was barely 5 meters away.

The third terrorist had managed to escape. Six security personnel had perished to the terrorists bullets.

The shopkeepers ran towards their shops, beating their chests, to pull their shutters down which had remained open throughout the encounter. Some damage was also done to these shops. Bodies were lifted, area was cleared.

Half an hour later, when I passed from that area again, other than protesters from Maisuma, there was no sign of the fierce gunfight that had goaded the locality for an entire day. And a little later, a man claiming to be from Ál-Mansurian’ called on my mobile phone and claimed responsibility for the attack.