New Delhi: Suspected militants shot dead a top retired police officer inside a mosque in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Sunday, December 24.

The victim has been identified as Mohammad Shafi Mir, who retired as a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) from J&K Police in 2012. He had been a protected person with one security officer deployed with him round-the-clock who was withdrawn recently, according to Indian Express.

In a statement, J&K Police said that the incident took place at Gantmulla village of Sheeri, which falls between Baramulla and Uri towns in this north Kashmir frontier district.

“Terrorists fired upon Shri Mohd Shafi, a retired officer at Gantmulla, Sheeri #Baramulla while praying Azan (morning call for prayer) in the mosque and succumbed to injuries,” J&K Police posted on X.

Shafi, who had devoted himself to social service after retirement, was a muezzin at a local mosque in his village where he had gone to issue a pre-dawn call for prayers on Sunday morning when the attack took place.

Shot while issuing call to prayer

Speaking with The Wire, his brother, Abdul Karim Mir, said that like on any other day, Shafi had left home before dawn to issue the prayer call from the neighbourhood mosque. “Just when he was in the middle of azaan (call for prayer), we heard a shot and the azaan was cut shot,” he said.

“No one took much notice,” Karim continued. “We live in a peaceful area. Even when militancy was at its peak, we were leading normal lives. After some 10-15 minutes, my daughter-in-law heard the sound of wailing in the neighbourhood.”

Karim said that by the time he reached the mosque, his brother had been taken to hospital by locals, “I saw blood in the mosque. I thought he had collapsed and suffered a brain haemorrhage because of which blood smeared the floor. But when I reached the hospital, I learnt that he was shot,” he said.

As the news of the shootout spread, Shafi’s native village is learned to have plunged into shock and grief. Additional security personnel were rushed to the area and carried out searches to track down the attackers.

Hundreds of villagers attended the funeral prayers of Shafi, who is survived by his wife and two children, one of whom is a teacher. Amid emotional scenes, the slain police officer was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Gantmulla village.

“He was an officer among officers and a farmer among farmers,” said Ghulam Rasool Mir, a retired sub-inspector of J&K Police, while participating in the funeral prayers.

“It is the first such incident in our village. And it has brought more uncertainty into the lives of retired police officers like me,” he added.

Targeted killings

This attack in north Kashmir is reminiscent of a spate of targeted killings in which members of the minority Pandit community and migrant workers were shot dead by militants in 2021 across the Valley.

The retired SSP’s killing comes days after a police constable was shot and injured in a targeted attack at Hamdaniya Colony in Bemina area of Srinagar and less than two months after an off-duty J&K Police head constable was killed in a similar attack.

In October, Masroor Ahmad Wani, a police inspector, was shot while he was playing cricket at a ground near his home in Eidgah locality of Srinagar. After battling for life for several days, the victim was later shifted to AIIMS in the national capital where he succumbed.

Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a surge in militant attacks with the casualties suffered by security forces this year surpassing the 2022 figure, official data shows.

Five Army soldiers were killed and two others were injured when militants ambushed two Army vehicles on the way to the site of an anti-militancy operation in Poonch earlier this week.

The Union territory is reeling under tensions after the families of the three civilians, who were picked by the army for questioning in connection with the attack, alleged that they were tortured and killed in custody, prompting the administration to order a probe.