Shoe thrower gets hero’s welcome in Kashmir village

SRINAGAR - Abdul Ahad Jan, the suspended police head constable who flung a shoe at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Independence Day, received a hero’s welcome in his north Kashmir Ajas village and said he didn’t repent his action.

Jan had Tuesday met Abdullah and the latter announced his decision to pardon the shoe thrower in the spirit of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which the chief minister said teaches all Muslims to forgive and forget.

Speaking to hundreds of locals who had gathered to receive him in Ajas in Bandipora district, Jan said he did not repent his decision to throw a shoe at the chief minister during the Independence Day parade at Sringar’s Bakshi stadium.

Jan, who had broken down during his meeting with Abdullah, said he had decided to quit the police job the moment he chose to fling the shoe at the chief minister.

Jan claimed he had been tortured by the police during his interrogation following his arrest at the Bakshi Stadium Sunday.

“They offered to promote me to the rank of a deputy superintendent of police provided I made a statement accusing the hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani and the former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed for instigating me to hurl the shoe at the chief minister.

“I totally refused the offer and told the interrogators that the decision was absolutely my personal one and I am willing to face the consequences,” he said.

Ironically, Jan, during his meeting with Abdullah, had said he did not mean any insult to the chief minister but had flung the shoe at the state director general of police whom he accused of harassment during his service career as a policeman.