Dar was really excited about his daughters’ engagement: Kin

He was attacked by unidentified terrorists near his house at Wailoo village on Tuesday. The head constable is survived by his wife and seven daughters

: A father of seven girls, slain head constable Ghulam Mohammad Dar was overseeing arrangements for the engagement ceremony of his two daughters next week when he was shot dead outside his house in Baramulla district.

Dar was really excited about his daughters’ engagement: Kin (Waseem Andrabi/HT)

Dar, 53, was currently posted at District Police Lines, Srinagar. He was visiting his newly-built house in Wailoo village in Tangmarg area to oversee renovation going on there.

He was attacked by unidentified terrorists near his house at Wailoo village on Tuesday. The head constable is survived by his wife and seven daughters. While oldest, Ulfat Jan, is 25 years old, the youngest Seerat is only six.

“Who will look after the girls. I don’t know how to survive in this cruel world,” Dar’s wife Maqsooda Jan said, as relatives tried to console her.

Ulfat said they had called on a plumber for some work and in the evening his father left the house to drop the plumber to his home in neighbouring Chuker village.

“When my father reached near his house, he was fired. He fell near the entrance of our newly constructed house. At the time we were inside the house,” she said, adding that renovation was going on as her engagement ceremony was to be held next week.

“Now what will happen to us. We don’t have any brother,” she said.

Large number of people converged at the house of the policeman to express their grief.

“The big question is what will happen to this family. With the lone male member gone, life won’t be easy for them. Everyone here is surprised why he was targeted. He was the most polite person of our village,” Tariq Ahmad, the village sarpanch said.

“On Wednesday, he had taken leave and was at his home making preparations for the engagement of her two daughters. The fate had something else in store for him,” he said, adding that now it is responsibility of police to look after this family.

“They used to live at neighbouring Kralpora and shifted to Wailoo only two or three years ago. He (Dar) was my friend and was now completing his unfinished house,” he said.

On Tuesday night, Dar’s body was taken to the District Police Lines, Baramulla, where senior officers paid tributes the slain policeman. At mid night, the cop was buried in his native village.

Police, army conduct search operations

Police and army conducted search operations in neighbouring areas of Wailoo village to get clues about the attackers. All the former militants and some youth of the area were summoned by police for investigation.

This was the third targeted attack in Kashmir since Sunday and second on a serving police personnel. TRF had claimed responsibility for the attack on inspector Masror Ahmad in Srinagar on Sunday. The officer is struggling for his life in a hospital. On Monday, unidentified gunmen killed a labourer from Uttar Pradesh who was working in a brick kiln in Pulwama district.