The slain TeH district president Anantnag, Mir Hafizullah.

Srinagar: The Hurriyat (G) Chairman, Syed Ali Geelani, broke down after hearing that the district president of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH) Anantnag, Mir Hafizullah, was assassinated in the broad day light outside his home.

According to the sources in Hurriyat (G), when Geelani was informed about Mir’s assassination, tears rolled down his eyes and he broke down.

“He was shocked and attained a thoughtful silence,” sources said.

Mir has warned Police

Mir, who was the district president of the Anantnag, played an instrumental role in the 2016 unrest which rocked south Kashmir.

As such he remained underground for most of the time during that period before he was arrested by the authorities and put in jail.

He was released in August this year.

According to the family members and the residents, where from Mir belonged, the Hurriyat leader was allegedly getting threat phone calls and mid-night knocks at his home located at Badroo Achabal.

They said this triggered fear in the mind of Mir who fled from his home believing he might be called by the unknown people from whom he would get threats.

“Mir alerted the police besides the TeH,” family members claimed.

TeH also released a statement few days ago wherein it was alleged that Mir was receiving life threats over the phone.

“Since last one month some unknown people [were] suspiciously roaming around his house and at times knocking the doors and windows and inquiring about Mir Hafizullah that makes the whole family frightened,” a spokesman of TeH had said in the statement.

On Monday evening, Mir arrived at his home since he wanted to get one of his five kids admitted in the school.

“This morning at around 11 a.m, Mir was standing next to his house which borders the road,” family members said.

“In the meantime three men came in the car. They alighted from the car and fired at him randomly, killing him at the spot”.

The relatives and the neighbors said that as soon his wife saw Mir being shot, she ran and jumped over him in a bid to save him.

“She got drenched in the blood oozing out of the body of Mir,” the relatives said.

“For a moment, we thought she too was shot”.

Mir was transported to the sub-district hospital Anantnag where he was declared brought dead.

He was later buried at his native graveyard amid the pro-Azaadi slogans.

Addressing the gathering through telephone, Hurriyat (G) chairman Geelani said that just as Ikhwan (the erstwhile pro-government militia) targeted the Jamaat-e-Islami activists from 1994 to 2002, to weaken the organization, same way Tehreek-e-Hurriyat is being targeted “by the people armed by the Indian state”.

Police Version

The Jammu and Kashmir Police, however, contest the Hurriyat version and stated that it were the militants who killed the TeH leader in Anantnag.

Police, in a statement, said that the militants barged inside the residential house of Hafizullah Mir at Budooda Achabal, Anantnag district and fired indiscriminately.

“In this incident, Hafizullah sustained critical gunshot wounds and was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he succumbed.”

Mir was district president of the pro-freedom organization TeH.

Police said it registered a case under relevant sections of law and initiated investigation in the matter, it added.

Brief Profile  

Mir started his political career as a member of Jamiat-e-Tulba in early 1980’s.

He was first arrested as a political worker of Muslim United Front (MUF) in late 1980’s when the front contested the assembly elections, which were later declared rigged and became the cause for the armed insurgency in Kashmir in 1988-89.

As Kashmir erupted, Mir joined Hizbul Mujahideen and was later arrested by the forces in 1993.

After being imprisoned for few years, Mir was released, following which he joined the Hurriyat faction led by Syed Ali Geelani.

In 2005, he got actively associated with TeH after the split in the Hurriyat.

Known to be modest and coming from a financially under privileged background, Mir was an active political activist.

He would be often lodged behind prison by the police for organizing the pro-freedom protests and mobilizing people.

Just a month after his release in the year 2008, the first unarmed uprising erupted in which Mir played a vital role.

Similarly in the year 2010, he was again witnessed to be organizing and leading the pro-freedom rallies in Anantnag.

Just before the Eid, in 2010 he was released. After the killing of militant commander, Burhan Wani, Mir went underground and organized massive pro-freedom rallies. He mobilized people and played a critical role in the agitation.

Mir is survived by five children and has a wife.

Nasir Qadri, a lawyer, who fought his case to revoke the Public Safety Act (PSA) in the year 2013, told Mir that he should take a rest from political activities for some time now.

The indefatigable political activist, Mir, replied:

“Slaves are patients suffering from multiple disorders and I am the chronic patient”.