A retired superintendent of police turned muezzin was killed by suspected militants on Sunday while he was calling people to morning prayers at a mosque in Baramulla
district.

The killing comes amid outrage over the deaths of three civilians in alleged army custody in Poonch district of Jammu, providing a grim reminder of how ordinary people remain at the receiving end from both sides of the military-militant divide.

Police said Mohammad Shafi Mir, 72, was shot dead around 6am while he was reciting the azan at a mosque in the Gantmulla locality of Sheeri in Baramulla. Some other reports suggested Shafi was shot outside the mosque.

Militants have in recent months carried out several attacks on off-duty or retired policemen.

Shafi’s family said he had retired in 2012 as superintendent of police and thereafter taken a keen interest in the affairs of the local mosque, eventually becoming its muezzin.

The slain muezzin’s cousin Abdul Karim Mir, who lives nearby, said Shafi was reciting the azan for the Fajr prayers and had got to the line “Ashhadu Anna Muhammad ur Rasoolullah (I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of the Almighty)” when he stopped suddenly.

“There was a loud noise and he stopped. I thought he may have had some issues. A few minutes later, my daughter came rushing saying, ‘Shafi uncle has passed away’.”

Another relative said he had seen Shafi bleeding profusely and initially thought he had fallen and got injured.

“At the hospital, we learnt that he had been shot. It happened very early when the entire village was sleeping,” he said.

A large number of people attended the funeral. Police and security officials have rushed in large numbers to the village.

“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.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing. While lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and the police blamed militants for the killing, official sources said they were also exploring other angles, including rivalry. The police had not issued a formal statement by late evening.

On Thursday, militants had ambushed an army convoy in Poonch, killing four soldiers and injuring three. Following this, the security forces took several villagers away for questioning.

Three of them were allegedly tortured to death while several others from the group are being treated for serious wounds at an army hospital. The army has pledged full cooperation with the inquiry ordered by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

People here do not expect much from such investigations as security force personnel accused of atrocities have seldom been punished in the past.

The political parties condemned the muezzin’s killing and condoled with his family.

“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 & now a retired SP killed. Innocent people have become collateral damage to maintain the facade of normalcy touted by GOI,” former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti posted on X.

“One doesn’t know what to condemn more? Killing of five army jawans who laid their lives in the line of their duty or civilians tortured to death in the most barbaric way by those supposed to protect us from the enemy? Every life in J&K is in peril & GOI wants to brush everything under the carpet only because the ground reality will puncture their fake narrative. How long will this go on before the country wakes up?”

The National Conference 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.