Find and shoot his killers within 72 hours, rifleman Aurangzeb`s father sets deadline for Centre

JAMMU: The father of slain rifleman Aurangzeb has given a 72-hour deadline to the Centre to find and kill those who abducted and killed his son in cold-blood on Thursday evening. 

Speaking to reporters, Auranzeb's father said, ''What is stopping the Government of India from taking a decisive action against those responsible for killing my son. If the government does not take any action within 72 hours, I will myself avenge Aurangzeb's killing.''

The retired army man also slammed those doing politics over the death of martyrs in Jammu and Kashmir and the separatist leaders who, he alleged, were Pakistan sympathisers.       

The heartbroken old man said that Aurangzeb's killing was not only a personal setback to his family but also to the Army, which he was serving, and the state of Jammu and Kashmir to which he belonged.

He also questioned why the state of J&K could not be cleaned of terrorists since 2003. 

''When the Narendra Modi government came to power, we thought that the situation would improve but not much has been done. I demand that the separatists and others doing politics should be kicked out of Kashmir. The Army and other security agencies should launch an all-out offensive against the terror groups active in the Kashmir Valley,'' he demanded.

Our desire to celebrate Eid with him (Aurangzeb) will now remain unfulfilled, the old man said, with tears flowing from his eyes.  

The slain rifleman, who was part of the special Army team that was involved in the killing of local Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sameer Ahmad Bhat alias Sameer Tiger in May, was laid to rest with full state honours.

He hailed from Poonch.

Sameer Tiger was the local Hizbul Mujahideen commander who was killed in the encounter at the Drubgam village of Pulwama district in May.

Besides grief-stricken family members, hundreds of local villagers attended the last rites of rifleman Aurangzeb.

He was on his way back home after completing his duty when he was surrounded by a group of heavily-armed terrorists and taken away at gunpoint. His bullet-ridden body was later found by a team of police and Army at Gussu village, about 10-km away from Kalampora, in Pulwama district. 

As soon as the report of his kidnapping came in, the Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a massive search for him and informed the 23 Rashtriya Rifles, with which the jawan was attached.

Following his abduction, his mother had appealed to the terrorists to release his son, saying she wanted to celebrate Eid with him.

Meanwhile, the intelligence sources on Friday claimed that Pakistan's notorious spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) may be behind the abduction and cold-blooded killing of Aurangzeb.

Intelligence sources told Zee Media that Pakistan's all-powerful ISI is rattled with the anti-terror operations being carried out by the Indian army against terrorist groups waging a 'jihad' for the liberation of Kashmir. The sources also claimed that the plan to kidnap and kill Aurangzeb was executed at the behest of the ISI to teach a ''lesson to the Indian security forces''.

With Aurangzeb's brutal killing, the Pakistan-backed terrorists have sent a strong message to the authorities that they will not be deterred by the ongoing anti-terror operations in the Kashmir Valley. The jawan was chosen by the ISI-backed terrorists to discourage the Kashmiri youths from joining the Indian Army or other para-military forces, the sources claimed.

Aurangzeb’s family has had the history of serving Indian armed forces. While his father retired from the Indian Army, his uncle had died in the line of duty fighting terrorists in 2004.

The jawan’s brother is also an Indian Army soldier. 

(With PTI inputs)