On 14 December 2021, Redwani Bala, a small village in Kulgam District was preparing to retire for the day after dinner, when two local terrorists barged into the house of Muzzafar Ahmad Dar, a poor mason and farmer, who used to toil daily to make ends meet.
Redwani Bala is a small village in Kulgam district with approx 400 houses. The village has always been on the map of terrorism since ages, however the area gained prominence in 2017, when Altaf Ahmad Dar also called as Altaf Kachroo became the Deputy Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen. After a Company Operating Base (COB) was established at Redwani Bala in September 2018, the belt of Redwani Bala, Hawara and Kujjar returned to normalcy. Redwani Bala COB promises a new dawn and a new year for people of Redwani, bringing peace and prosperity to this village.
With Chillai Kalan setting in and the winter fog making the view hazy, the neighbours of Muzzafar Ahmad Dar were oblivious of the emerging situation. His wife, Sakeena Bano and elder daughter Lali were tutoring his younger daughter Sakia, a class 6th student. His son Ikhlas, a class 10th student, had just returned from a cricket match when he saw terrorists barging in his house. He immediately ran away to his friend’s house and kept mum sitting in a corner. The entire village, unaware of the situation woke up with the Fajr namaz and went about their routine work. Whereas, House No 51, the house of Muzzafar Ahmad Dar was shrouded in despair and darkness. Muzzafar and his wife were not allowed to make or receive any calls and they were locked up alongwith their daughters in a room. Muzzafar and his wife prayed for this nightmare to finish quickly for the safety of their children.
One of the terrorists who entered their house, Amir Bashir Dar alias Danish who was an OGW earlier had joined Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in April 2021. Within a short period of time, Danish had become infamous for his aggressive behaviour and ruthless ways to suppress the locals through his pistol wielding image. The other terrorist, acting as his deputy, Adil Yousuf Shan was from the village of Sursunu in Kulgam, who had also joined the outfit in October 2021.
At around 5 PM on 15 December 2021, there was utter silence in Redwani, when the area was being cordoned off by the Security Forces. Meanwhile, the terrorists forced Muzzafar and his wife Sakeena to go the neighbouring house, keeping their two daughters captive to plan their escape using the innocent girls as human shield. With the sun setting, Muzzafar and his wife could see their lives drowning into the abyss of misery. They burst into tears, when the Rashtriya Rifles Company Commander asked about presence of terrorists in his house. Muzzafar fell on the ground making appeal to save his family. When consoled, he revealed the entire episode of his daughters held captive by the stone hearted terrorists.
Hearing this, the Coy Cdr took upon himself to rescue the girls prior to commencing the operation. The entire focus of Army was now to save the lives of Muzzafar’s daughters instead of neutralizing the terrorists. With no time in hand, the Army, Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) now gathered the prominent village elders and appealed for release of the girls and surrender of the terrorists. Under immense pressure of the society, the girls were set free by the terrorists.
Muzzafar being from a poor background, now requested security forces to save his house from collateral damage. He had renovated the house in June this year with his hard earned savings of past several years. His second request was accepted too and as the encounter raged, utmost care was taken to use minimum force to neutralise the terrorist and prevent collateral damage. Post the encounter, Muzzafar and the villagers expressed their gratitude for support and kindness displayed by the Security Forces in dealing with the situation. Security forces dealt with the situation in humane and professional manner. Their calibrated response averted any loss / injury to civilians or damage to civil property.
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