Friendship With Woman Led to Aurangzeb’s Murder

It was love for a woman led to rifleman Aurangzeb to a brutal death in Kashmir.

New Delhi: Love for a woman led to rifleman Aurangzeb to a brutal death recently in Kashmir.

It may be recalled that Aurangzeb, an army jawan posted in South Kashmir’s Shadimurg, was abducted and killed soon after he left the 44 Rashtriya Rifles camp on June 14. His murder was one of the reasons for the BJP to withdraw support to the Mehbooba Mufti government.

According to reports, Aurangzeb and his colleagues had hailed a private car and requested the driver to drop him to Shopian but the car was intercepted by terrorists, who dragged him out and brutally killed him.

The mistake that Aurangzeb did was that he ignored Army rules. Jawans are not allowed to travel in private cars and must always leave in a bullet-proof vehicle, till they cross the Valley.

In Aurangzeb’s case, it would have been safe for him to travel in a private vehicle only after crossing  Banihal into Jammu. “He hailed a private car because he was to meet the girl,’’ an official told HT. He did not want the Army to know of it.

Unknown to Aurangzeb, the terrorists had found out that the armyman was seeing the woman. “They forced the girl to reveal details and discovered that he would be leaving the army camp and would be seeing her before proceeding to Poonch,’’ an army official told HT on condition of anonymity.

The terrorists were lying in wait for him and pulled him out of the car. Contact between men in uniform and local women is frowned upon as armymen are seen as ‘oppressors’.

The rifleman was on his way home, in Poonch, for Eid but decided to meet a local woman before leaving the Valley. “He had come in contact with a woman and the two were in touch,’’ an official revealed.

The army has now issued an advisory reiterating SOPs. “A message has been sent to all units in the Valley, through 15 Corps, to not befriend local women,’’ an army spokesperson confirmed. “It is not easy for our men to serve in the midst of a hostile population, but contact with women is completely inadvisable.’’

The young jawan also became a target because of the unit he belonged to. His unit has been at the forefront of counter-insurgency operations in Shopian and has neutralised several militants.

A video shot in a forest, before Aurangzeb was shot multiple times in the head, shows him answering questions on his duties, postings and operations. Hours later, his body was found abandoned in neighbouring Pulwama.