'It's not Jihad but Jahalat': Kashmiri villagers to terrorists who killed 12-year-old boy

A villager in Jammu and Kashmir’s Hajin area on Thursday pleaded to Lashker-e-Taiba terrorists to release the 12-year-old boy, who was held captive by them and later killed. In a viral video on social media, one of the villagers is heard telling the Pakistani terrorists that what they are doing is not “jihad” (armed crusade) but “jahalat” (benighted). However, the requests from the villagers fell to dumb ears as the boy, identified as Atif Mir, was brutally killed by the LeT terrorists.

The incident took place in Hajin area near Srinagar where the terrorists had taken shelter in the boy’s house at gunpoint, the police officials said. The terrorists - Ali alias Furkan and Hubaib – allegedly wanted to sexually abuse Mir’s sister but the family helped her escape. This infuriated them and they started beating up the family members.

Hearing their cries, the locals informed the police. Reaching the spot, the police started the rescue mission and successfully extracted Mir’s parents and other family members. Before the police could rescue Mir and his uncle Hameed, the terrorists open fire.

“We knew that the boy and uncle were trapped inside and, so, we asked the villagers to appeal to the terrorists to release them,” news agency PTI quoted a senior official as saying.

On the request of police, the head of the village asked the terrorists to release the boy. “Do whatever you want, but this is not Jihad but Jahalat. Please release the boy,” he pleaded. Later, wife of Hameed also made appeals to release her husband and nephew but the stone-hearted terrorists didn’t reciprocate.

Later, the police made a room clearing intervention and managed to bring Hameed out of the house. Hameed told police that he was beaten black and blue by the terrorists with an iron rod and AK rifle. “I tried my best to get my nephew out of this. I begged them but they remained unmoved,” Hameed told the police.

Meanwhile, the area was completely seized by the security personnel and realising that there was no escape, the terrorists killed the boy before being neutralised by the forces.

(With inputs from PTI)