A 25-year-old woman, Ishrat Jahan, hailing from Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district was shot at by unidentified gunmen on camera and the video was later released online. Ishrat is seen pleading before the gunmen with folded hands soon after which the gunmen shoot bullets at her and she immediately died, as shown in the viral video.
Ishrat, whose bullet-riddled body was later recovered in Draggad area of Shopian district, was also a cousin of the slain militant commander of Al-Badr outfit. The police also recovered a letter from the gunmen near the site where Ishrat's body was recovered. The letter mentions Ishrat as being "acting as an informer at the behest of the police providing information about the presence of militants."
The police sources told International Business Times, India that they are suspecting the woman may have been killed because she tipped off the police and security agencies about Zeenat-ul-Islam's presence and got him killed.
"There are important leads we have in this case and we will get hold of the murderers soon," a police official said.
The horrific killing of the young woman has been condemned by human rights activists based in the valley.
Watch the video {Viewers discretion needed}
Unknown gunman shot dead a girl in South #Kashmir's Shopian district - brutal murder filmed. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/hUTEYhdMU6
— Fahad Shah (@pzfahad) January 31, 2019
ISIS style executions by militants in Kashmir
The militants in Kashmir valley especially South Kashmir have adopted the Islamic State style of abductions and killings of civilians,(who they claim as police informers) and policemen lately. In the last three months, three civilians have been killed by the militants and the shootings were recorded live and then released on social media.
The militants have dubbed these civilians as police informers and described these executions as revenge killings.
In November 2018, a Class XI student, Nadeem Manzoor was shot at multiple times in a viral video by the Hizbul Mujahideen militants alleging that 17-year-old Nadeem got two militants killed in South Kashmir's Shopian district.
Another teenager, 19-year-old Huzaif Ashraf was killed when the militants slit his throat and recorded the bone-chilling incident on camera. The abductors carrying an AK 47 gun and a blood-soaked knife could be seen warning the civilians against desisting from acting as police informers or meeting the same fate as Nadeem and Huzaif.
Prior to this, there was a spate of abductions and killings of Special Police Officers(SPOS) and their relatives by the militants asking the policemen to either resign from their services or get killed.
The new style of executions by the militants are likely to negate their influence among the people, especially when they target civilians, the security experts said.
"This may also bring down the public support which the local militants have enjoyed for quite some time and may even put brakes on their operations against the security forces. We have seen how people were rushing to the encounter sites and helping the militants during the encounters. However, killing their own people may prove detrimental to their strategy now," an official opined.
