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I: Your name?
W: Raja Wallayat Khan
I: Which place do you come from?
W: District Kupwara, area Keran
I: So when did you migrate?
W: It was 1990, I was in the Police there as Head Constable
my duty was in Keran
I: So you were employed there?
W: Yes, in the police station there
our CHO was on holiday and I was in charge
I: So despite having a good job, why did you migrate, what were the reasons?
W: The atrocities committed by Indian army on Muslims there are unspeakable
they would carry out acts of violence on little children
they went to schools and would beat up school teachers
they carried out crackdowns, separate women on one side and men on other
they would loot their property
they took our young men away to interrogation centres and martyred
only 6 of them returned
There is a young girl from village Khorian who is also a refugee in Bararkot camp
Khakeena is her name, she is an eye-witness
They carried out a crackdown on Khorian which is only 7kms away
the army went there on crackdown saying terrorists had visited at night
that girl jumped from the 4th floor and broke her leg
she somehow managed to get to the police station
because a police station is a place of safety
I was in charge there, the RAW [Indian intelligence] and IB people arrived
and demanded that we hand over the girl so they could interrogate her
about hideouts etc, they said she knew about terrorists
they refer to Mujahedeen as terrorists
The people of Keran raised the voices and demanded that we did not hand over the girl
it was the honour of the people
The besieged the police station all night
the police station is very near LOC, there is river Neelum in between
So they besieged the police station overnight and threatened us
in morning they lifted the siege, and we all took flight with the girl
and came over here
I have 28 years service, from 1963
and left everything behind due to the atrocities
I: You mention of a woman called Khakeena who is in Brarkot
what happened to her, why did she come to the police station and why you left
W: She came to the police station to seek protection, it was the only sanctuary after God
the Muslim policemen, it was our duty to protect her
but instead the Indian army made us the target of their atrocities
they wanted to take her away and interrogate her overnight
we told them it was unacceptable, death was better, we would not let this happen
all this continued and then daylight broke
when they lifted the crackdown, we all people of Keran escaped
I: So all you Muslim officers from the police station left?
W: Yes, there are 4 head constables and one ASI, M Ashraf Khan was left behind
he is now in Manakpian now, he was on holiday at the time
when he returned after 2 days, he came after us
Four head constables and nine sepoys [constables] have come with us
there were 2-3 young men, one head constable, were left behind
the rest of us left, all of the police station
I: So do you have any police uniform or [ID] card?
W: I have an ID card, we left in a rush so could not carry uniforms
but I have the ID card incidentally, 1 or 2 have their uniforms
This is my departmental card which was in my pocket at the time of departure