Thousands of villagers blocked the Srinagar-Baramulla National Highway today in protest against a Rashtriya Rifles unit having allegedly asked one of them to check an IED which went off, leaving the 30-year-old critically wounded.Protests ended after eight hours when police officers from Baramulla assured villagers that their fears over some of them being used as ‘‘human fields’’ would be addressed.The villagers told Express that Abdul Qadir Waza, a cook, was returning home from his fields when he was stopped by a 29 Rashtriya Rifles patrol.According to SSP, Muneer Khan, ‘‘They (the Armymen) had seen that the earth was dug up recently, raising suspicions of an IED. The JCO leading the patrol asked the villager to go closer and check. It was an IED which exploded injuring the villager severly.’’ He added: ‘‘A few days ago, a militant commander of Wusan (the village were the IED was planted) was killed and militants had planted the IED to avenge it and attack the patrol party.” Army spokesperson Lt Col V.K. Batra, however, denied the charges. ‘‘Militants exploded an IED in the evening in which a civilian got injured,’’ he said, adding that ‘‘the villagers were misled by some elements with a vested interest.’’However, Hafeezullah, Waza’s neighbour, maintained that ‘‘they (the Armymen) had used him as a human shield’’.He said when the villagers heard a blast around 4.30 last evening, they ‘‘rushed out to find him (Waza) lying in a pool of blood.’’ The mine had amputated his arm, said Hafeezullah.‘‘ We buried it after he was taken to hospital. He was bleeding profusely,’’ he said. Another villager, Tanveer Ahmad, said a few women had seen the Armymen stop Waza and ask him to check the hidden IED.Today, several men, women and children of Wusan and its adjoining villages assembled on the highway to register their protest. They burned tyres and wooden logs on the road, forcing trucks, buses and other vehicles to halt for several hours.Some Army convoys too were left stranded till the villagers were pacified. ‘‘We told them that police are investigating the case. We are disturbed by the incident too,’’ said Additional Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, Sharief-ud-Din.Later, some villagers accompanied SDPO MdAshraf Mir to the Army camp. ‘‘We want this practice of using untrained civilians to check for bombs to end,’’ one villager said, adding that ‘‘we told the Administration we won’t end the protests unless we get an assurance that the Wusan camp is shifted.’’ Villagers are also seeking compensation for Waza.
