Srinagar, Dec 24: A 72-year-old retired police officer, who was the local “muezzin”, was shot dead by terrorists while he was giving “azaan” – the call for prayer – from a mosque in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Sunday, police said. Recalling the moments before Mohammad Shafi Mir was killed, his cousin Mohammad Mustafa, who was at home, said the call for the pre-dawn prayers was being given by a loudspeaker and suddenly it stopped. Mir’s last words were “reham” (mercy), he said.
The “azaan” had stopped at “Ashhadu Anna Mohammadu Rasool-Allah (I bear witness that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah)”, Mustafa said.
Police said Mir retired as a senior superintendent of police (SSP) in 2012. He was shot dead by terrorists inside the mosque in the Gantmulla locality of the north Kashmir district’s Sheeri area, they said. “Terrorists fired upon Shri Mohd Shafi, a retired police officer, at Gantmulla, Sheeri Baramulla, while praying ‘azaan’ in the mosque and succumbed to injuries,” the Kashmir Zone Police said in a post on X.
Police have launched a search operation in the area to nab the assailants.
Mir had become the local “muezzin” – a person who calls for prayers – and he was devoted to his duties at the mosque, his family members said. Following the incident, a large number of people gathered at Mir’s house and at the mosque complex. Mir is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Talking to reporters, Mustafa said, “He (Mir) was my cousin. He used to call for prayers every day. This morning, while I was reading the Quran, he started the ‘azaan’, so I closed the Quran.” “He recited ‘Ashhadu Anna Mohammadu Rasool-Allah’ and then the ‘azaan’ stopped. I only heard a shout of ‘reham’. It was in a heavy voice,” he said.
Mustafa said he thought Mir might have stopped his call due to some other reason and guessed he could have collapsed due to dizziness. But after some time people came to know about the incident, he said.
“My daughter came and told me that Shafi uncle has died. We went to his house and learnt that Mir had been taken to Baramulla (hospital)…we were told he had suffered bullet injuries,” he said. Some of Mir’s relatives claimed he was shot four times.
Political parties condemned the killing and expressed their condolences to the former police officer’s family. The National Conference (NC) said violence can never be tolerated in any form. “JKNC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and VP @OmarAbdullah express profound sadness over the tragic Baramulla incident, where retired SP Mohammad Shafi was senselessly shot dead,” the party said in a post on X. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said innocent people have become “collateral damage to maintain the facade of normalcy touted” by the Centre. (PTI)
“Five jawans martyred in a militant ambush, three innocent civilians tortured to death in custody by army, many still battling for their lives in hospitals and now a retired SP killed. Innocent people have become collateral damage to maintain the facade of normalcy touted by GoI,” Mufti posted on X.
The BJP termed the act dastardly and said terror and terrorists have no religion.
“Dastardly act of killing of 72-year-old retired police officer by those who have no religion. The sons of devil can’t even tolerate ‘azaan’… Terror and terrorists have no religion. Strongly condemn this killing, express my solidarity with the bereaved family,” Jammu and Kashmir BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur said.
Democratic Progressive Azad Party chief Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government must take decisive measures to crack down on terrorism. (PTI)
