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The already troubled election process in Jammu and Kashmir could very well have done without a controversy like the killing of two youths in Srinagar by Border Security Force personnel.
As was the case so far, Friday morning did not see any movement of campaign vehicles or any candidate canvassing in the heart of Srinagar city.
Instead, a 1,000-strong crowd of irate mourners was protesting against the killing of the youths in Maisuma locality on Thursday evening.
Several mourners had accompanied the body of one of the slain youths, Bilal Sheikh, a travel agent, for cremation.
After the cremation, angry mourners burnt tyres inside Maisuma locality, a one-time militant stronghold.
Later, shouting pro-azadi (freedom), anti-BSF and anti-election slogans, they burnt posters and banners of political parties.
Copies of some Urdu dailies, which had described the two slain youths as Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists, also suffered the same fate.
This went on for around 15 minutes before the police fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob.
According to witnesses, on Thursday evening, Bilal Sheikh (27) was through with his work and was sitting with a group of friends in Maisuma locality.
Around 1900 hours IST, "some BSF personnel came and asked him where he lived. Then they asked him to accompany them. He had barely walked a few metres with them when one of them shot him using a sten gun," said Ali Mohammed, who has a shop near the place where the incident occurred.
"The BSF men then shot at Nazir Ahmad Lone who died on the spot," he added.
Lone worked as a motor mechanic in a workshop in the compound where Bilal was shot, Mohammed said.
Nazir, locals said, left behind three infant daughters.
Other local residents repeat the sequence of events, only with slight variations in the time.
Meanwhile, Bilal Sheikh's grieving family insists that he could still have survived if the BSF and the local police had let them take him to a hospital immediately after he was shot.
"He he did not die immediately, but later of blood loss. The BSF and the local police did neither allow us near him nor hand over his body till Friday morning," complained his brother Nisar Sheikh.
The BSF has a different version of the incident. It claims that the duo was killed when they tried to escape from the BSF's custody.
"These two, along with three others, were threatening a potential candidate Syed Mohammed Ayub, who wanted to contest from Kulgam constituency in south Kashmir. They were being brought to a BSF post to confront Ayub when militants fired upon our men," said BSF Deputy Inspector General A K Bhullar.
'Taking advantage of the confusion, Bilal and Nazir tried to run away ignoring warnings by the BSF personnel', he said.
"Finally, our men had to open fire at them. They later succumbed to injuries," Bhullar added.
The BSF claims that Bilal was an ex-Al-Jihad militant.
But ex-militants are a common sight in the valley with even the state legislative assembly having its fair share. In fact, a number of ex-militants are contesting the Sep-Oct assembly elections.
Bhullar, however, had no answer to whether Bilal was involved in militant acts of late.
Strangely, Bhullar also denied that Nazir was a militant.
"The state police is investigating the case and the BSF too has ordered an enquiry into the incident," he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage
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