Srinagar: A video purportedly showing a man admitting that his information to police led to the killings of militants, and a photograph of his dead body have gone viral on social media in Kashmir.
In the photograph, the man, identified as Ishtiyaq Ahmad Wagay, a shopkeeper from Jablipora in Anantnag, can be seen lying dead with blood oozing out of his nose.
Police assume that the man had been shot dead immediately after he admitted to helping forces eliminate militants from the valley.
Police recovered Wagay's body in Shopian on August 8. It is believed that he had video-graphed his confession of spying for security forces, hours before being killed.
A senior police officer, based in South Kashmir, said militants had blamed Wagay's killing on security agencies, but from the video that surfaced on social media, it is clear they (militants) are behind the many "mysterious" killings of civilians in South Kashmir.
A lot of civilian killings, not owned by government forces or militants are blamed on "unknown or unidentified gunmen". Seldom does an investigation nail assassins.
In the past, militants have openly warned police officials and informants against helping the government in anti-militancy operations. Militants have carried out multiple raids on the houses of police officers to scare them into giving up anti-militancy roles. Posters have been posted in many areas of Shopian, Kulgam, and Pulwama warning people against helping security forces.
Wagay's confessional video of being an alleged informer shows an Ak rifle of a suspected militant (not in the frame) at an unknown destination. Police officials say it could be some village in South Kashmir.
“I was forced to become an informer. They did not pay me. I shared information about Talha, Musa Bhai, Junaid Kandro and Turab. Now, they have asked me to track down Daad," Wagay can be heard telling the gunmen in the Kashmiri language.
Police said that 30-year-old Wagay was abducted by the militants before being shot dead. His blood-soaked body with multiple bullet wounds was recovered from the Alam Gunj village of South Kashmir’s Shopian district.
“What did you gain from being the informer? Aren't we your brothers? Now, are you confessing that you were an informer," the suspected militant tells him.
Police say the killing reflects that the militants are settling their own scores and committing atrocities on the civilians.
In a similar video, apparently shot in the same area, another alleged police informer is seen owning his role in the arrest of two stone pelters. A visibly shaken Sameer Ahmad Pandit says he got two boys arrested for stone pelting. He also claims to have received 10000 rupees from a person who hired him to provide information about militants.
In the video, he claims he was told to a keep track of local militants for which he kept an eye on some families where militants could be given shelter.
The police officer in South Kashmir told News 18 that militants were slammed by the families of the alleged informers for the killings and "that is why before executing these poor civilians, they have given confessions on gunpoint".
"This is also to instill fear among sources of security forces so that they give up working for them," the officer said.
"Come what may we will save people who help security forces in eliminating the menace of militancy."
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