By R C GANJOO
Srinagar, Aug 31 (NVI): When Pakistan-sponsored terrorism crept into Kashmir decades back, who was the person in the Valley to take the first bullet from the terrorists?
It was Abdul Rashid Khatana, a young Constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police who retired as Sub-Inspector much later.
The date was April 6, 1988, months before terrorism exploded in a major way in Kashmir, engulfing it and causing havoc.
Although, the way the first terrorist gun was exposed was unintentional, it was enough to ring alarms in the security establishment and the problem could have been nipped in the bud.
Had the security agencies acted with the required promptness and effectiveness at that stage, Jammu and Kashmir could have been saved from the extreme turmoil it suffered later.
On the D-day, Khatana was on his way from Srinagar to his native place in Teetwal area of Kashmir’s Kupwara district, near the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In civil dress and unarmed, he was going home on 10 days’ leave from his duty at the graveyard of National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in Nageen area of Srinagar.
On reaching a mountainous area of Karnah, which he had to cross to reach his house, Khatana had to trek because of paucity of vehicles and lack of proper roads in those days.
He had the company of five others, including Head Constable Fajdar Bhat of DSB (District Special Branch Wing of Police).
In the dead of the night, at around 1.30 am on 6th March 1988, after they crossed an area called Sadhna Pass, they noticed suspicious movement of four persons.
Fajdar Bhat was in police uniform and he asked them to identify themselves.
He found out that one one of them was Rafiq Sheikh of Karnah, who was known as a guide for cross-LoC smugglers.
An argument started between them and it turned into a scuffle between the two groups.
During the fight, one of the suspected persons opened fire and Constable Abdul Rashid Khatana was hit in his leg.
In the melee, Rafiq Sheikh and his three other accomplices fled.
However, they left behind a bag which contained items which were shocking in those pre-terrorism days. It had a US-made revolver, a grenade, foreign camera, a map and JKLF literature.
Khatana was immediately moved to a hospital for treatment and case was registered.
A few days later, Rafiq Sheikh was arrested.
During his interrogation, Rafiq Sheikh disclosed that he was a local guide and his 3 accomplices included a Pakistan Army Captain Riaz of Rawalkot, PoK. He did not know the identity of the other two.
He told his interrogators that after the scuffle and firing incident, all four of them stayed for a night at Tangdhar and the next day crossed over to PoK.
Rafiq Sheikh was then lodged in a jail for 2 years and after he came out, he disappeared.
Interestingly, Head Constable Fajdar Bhat also deserted the police force and crossed over to PoK.
It was later reported that his son was a militant operating from PoK. It was on his son’s instance that Fajdar Bhat with his family from Keran crossed over to PoK.
Meanwhile, Khatana recovered from his bullet injury and was promoted to the post of Head Constable in 1990 and later as Sub-Inspector.
He later served as Police Post In-Charge police in Tad in Karnah where he saved the lives of school children in 1992 when an IED blast was carried out targeting a government primary school which was hardly 700 yards away from his police post.
The school had the presence of 90 students at that time.
Khatana was on a routine round when he noticed a suspicious lady carrying a basket full of cow dung cakes. She placed the basket near the boundary wall of the school and left.
Khatana and a constable reached that spot and found two battery cells connected with wire and some material buried.
The information was passed on to the police station, and the army disposal bomb squad, which came and defused the IED.
In another life-threatening task, Khatana saved the life of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Handwara on September 9, 1996.
At that time, he was in-charge of the judicial guard team. During the intervening night at 1.30 am, he and his team saw two terrorists throwing a grenade at the CJM’s residence.
Due to technical fault, the IED did not explode.
His team chased the terrorists who escaped in the darkness and the safety of the CJM was ensured. (NVI)
