STRUCTURES OF VIOLENCE

250 | Structures of Violence
were trailing behind. A little ahead of Abdul Rahim,
they met Habib Ganai.
At that point, army personnel of 2 Jat, Dori camp
caught hold of them. Along with Habib Ganai, Akbar
Bhat, son of Habib Bhat, witnessed this. Habib Ganai
and Akbar Bhat lived in that area. Ali Mohammad
Sheikh and Abdul Rasheed Sheikh were beaten by 8-
10 army personnel and taken away. Soon after this,
people in the area, particularly Rehman, son of Aziz
Naik, and Rahim, son of Habib Naik, saw Mohammad
Yousuf Naik and Abdul Aziz Naik also caught by army
personnel and taken away. There had been a
crackdown on the hill by the army.
On that day, at about 5 pm, Habib Ganai came and
informed people at Mahu, particularly Abdul Rasheed,
the Numberdar [and Mohammad Yousuf Naik's
brother], that the army had taken away some people
from the hill. The villagers took no immediate action.
But, a short while later, the army arrived at the house
of Ali Mohammad Sheikh's father, Mohammad
Subhan Sheikh. An army ofcer with two stars, who
had blue eyes, accompanied them. The ofcer,
pointing at the Numberdar's house, asked whose it
was. The Numberdar conrmed that it was his. The
ofcer then pointed at Subhan Sheikh's house, and on
being informed about whose house it was, decided to
search it. One of the army personnel recorded
Subhan Sheikh's name on his hand. The search took
about an hour. The kuthar of the house was also
searched. That concluded the search and people
returned to their houses.
But, at 1 am at night, the same ofcer returned with
some men and woke up Subhan. Mohammad Subhan
and his wife were sent out of the house, and the house
was searched again. The army said that two boxes
were missing. In response, Mohammad Subhan was
angry about his missing son. The ofcer said that his
son would not go anywhere and would be ne.
The next morning, 40-50 villagers headed to Dori. At
this point, the villagers thought only four people were
missing. They did not know that Mohammad Kamal
Naik was missing as well. At the Dori camp, the
villagers met Captain Gill. Captain Gill had arrived at
the Dori camp, which was itself new, around a month
back. The villagers told Captain Gill about the search
conducted and they pointed out the blue-eyed ofcer
who conducted the search. They asked for permission
to go to Dandewad to check the status of the four
people missing. Captain Gill responded by saying that
there was a crackdown on, and he denied having
detained anyone. That evening, the army burnt the
houses of the Bakarwals.
The next day, the following people went to Dandewad:
Abdul Rasheed Sheikh's cousin Rashid; the
Numberdar's son Irshad;and Mohammad Kamal
Naik's son Ghulam Hassan Naik. They returned with
information that ve people had reached there, and
then left. On hearing this information, the villagers
headed to Banihal that evening. On the way, they
crossed the 17 Rashtriya Ries [RR] Camp at
Mohibal, headed by a Major Dalal. There were around
200 villagers in total heading to Banihal. At Banihal
there was a massive protest and shops were also
shut. The villagers went to the Tehsildar, then the
SHO, and nally the Brigadier of the 2 Jat. The
Tehsildar accompanied the protesting villagers. The
Brigadier asked the villagers not to worry and said that
if his army personnel had detained the ve people,
nothing would happen to them. The Brigadier asked
the protesting villagers to return to their village. They
were informed that his Deputy would come in a
helicopter and meet with them. The police was sent to
accompany the villagers back. The villagers then
returned to Mahu.
The next morning, the Deputy arrived. He asked
Captain Gill to tell him the truth. Then they went to a
side and talked privately. The Deputy then told the
villagers not to agitate. He said that one person,
Mohammad Kamal Naik had been eaten by a bear,
and that the others would be released on 17
November 2002. Those who witnessed this statement
are Mohammad Kamal Naik's son Ghulam Hassan
Naik and the Numberdar's son Irshad.
On 17 November, the villagers went to the
headquarters at Banihal. There were 10-12 villagers
in total on this occasion. The Brigadier informed them
that one person had been eaten by a bear, and the
other four persons had been released and
subsequently there is no information on their
whereabouts. The Numberdar responded by asking
him to tell the truth and by saying that the detained
persons should have been released to the villagers.
The Brigadier further said that they had a militant
intercept which talked about the kidnapping of these
persons.
The villagers found goods belonging to the persons in
the forest. The police also took information from
Dandewad. A First Information Report [FIR] was
lodged by the police. Further, a person named
Mohammad Iqbal, son of Ahad, resident of Mahu,
states that he saw four people in the Dori camp. He
identied the missing four people as: Mohammad
Yousuf Naik, Abdul Aziz Naik, Ali Mohammad Sheikh
and Abdul Rasheed Sheikh. He probably saw them on
10 or 11 November 2002.
On 19 November, an army ofcer came to the village
and took statements from the villagers. He also
brought Captain Gill and the blue-eyed ofcer for the
purposes of identication. Captain Gill said: “come
ght like a lion, you are lying”. The Numberdar
nonetheless identied him.
After about 10-15 days, the 2 Jat army left from all
parts of Banihal.
The Numberdar of Mahu, Banihal, Abdul Rashid,