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| Had Mushtaq waited for Phirini? | | The day that shook Fourth Estate | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 9: It was a pleasure to receive Mushtaq Ali the smiling videographer at my friend's residence at Magarmal Bagh where a feast was hosted in connection with his Walima on September 7, 1995. Renowned journalist Yusuf Jameel and photographer Habib Naqash were also among the invitees.
Soon after lunch was served. Mushtaq had a hearty meal. Little did we know that he was having his last meal. Then suddenly some one came and informed the scribes that the foreign tourists who had been taken hostage by Al Faran were spotted. Yusuf Jameel, Mushtaq Ali and other scribes rushed to their office. I urged Mushtaq to have a plate of phirni (a sort of pudding) before leaving. He did not agree, Had he taken it, he would not have fallen to the parcel bomb. But then death keeps a definite calendar. A person dies when he is destined to die.
While Yusuf and Mushtaq were having lunch, a veiled lady had left a parcel for Jameel at his office, Residency Road. After their arrival in the office, Mushtaq snatched the parcel and started opening it as Jameel and Habib Naqash watched with keen interest. The moment Mushtaq removed the wrappers, the bomb went off leaving all of them injured. Mushtaq sustained critical injuries.
Three days later on September 10 he succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
Fifteen years have passed but Mushtaq's killers remain untraced. According to Habib Naqash, the police did not even register an FIR. "Had the FIR been registered, the police would have definitely approached me for my statement", he said.
Six foreign tourists, Donald Hutchings (American), John Childs (American) Keith Mangan and Paul Wells (British), Dirk Hasert (German) and Hans Ostro (Norwain) were abducted by an unknown outfit, Al Faran on July 4, 1995 from Aru, a health resort in South Kashmir, a few kilometers from the valley of Shepherds, Pahalgam.
Hans Ostro was executed a few days after captivity and the police recovered his beheaded body. John Childs somehow managed escape and rescued by a reconnaissance helicopter. The whereabouts of other tourists are still unknown. |
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