Charar-e-Sharief (Kashmir), Jul 27 (PTI) It has been three decades since the 66-day siege at the revered Charar-e-Sharief shrine, yet the memory of the harrowing standoff between terrorists and security forces remains vivid in the minds of residents who saw death and destruction ravaging their ancient town.

On May 11, 1995, the siege ended with a fire, ignited by cornered terrorists as a final desperate measure to escape, destroying the 14th-century shrine of the venerated saint Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani (Nund Reshi), the nearby mosque and a large part of the surrounding area as thousands of residents lost their homes and livelihood.

For locals like Ghulam Hasan Khadim, who still shudders as he recalls Pakistani terrorist Mast Gul shoving a grenade in the mouth of an elderly man who was trying to break the siege, and many others, the tragedy changed their lives forever.

Khadim, while taking a deep breath, recalls the bravado of the learned elderly resident, Noor Mohammed Fateh Khan, who attempted to approach the terrorists holed up inside the shrine.

"I clearly remember that Mast Gul shoved a grenade in his mouth and wanted to pull out the pin", Khadim recounted, "but left him with a warning that there is no scope for any negotiations".

"This incident left many of us witnessing it from the boundary wall shell-shocked," he said.

While Gul mysteriously vanished from the burning town, Charar-e-Sharief has been trudging on a path of recovery, drawing its strength from its Sufi traditions.

"The faith in the shrine, which is revered by Muslims as well as Kashmiri Pandits, has only increased, for it is common belief that the shrine bore the entire brunt of the impending catastrophe rather than affecting the local population," Khadim said.

Former Director General of Jammu and Kashmir police Kuldeep Khoda says that Charar-e-Sharief shrine was one of the biggest eyesores for terrorists and their masters across the border.

"Kashmir is known for its Sufi tradition, and the shrine at Charar is a standing testimony to that. The ISI and the terror groups have always aimed at demolishing this tradition and the attempt in 1995 was as per that plan only," he said.

At the onset of terrorism in the Kashmir valley in the early 1990s, the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had given a call of "Charar Chalo" in February 1990. "That call was given by the JKLF to bring its terrorists and dump its arms and ammunition in this town," the former police chief recalled.

During the last 35 years of turbulence in Kashmir, there have been several attempts by the terrorists to carry out attacks in this township, which included one in 2015 when terrorists threw a grenade at women devotees.

The town, which is located 28 km from the capital Srinagar, is the revered abode of Sheikh Noor ud Din Noorani, popularly known as Alamdar-e-Kashmir, the flag-bearer of Kashmir who was born as Nund Reshi in 1377.

However, the fate of the town changed by early December 1994 when Haroon Khan alias Mast Gul, from Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, arrived as thousands of devotees gathered for the annual Urs.

According to reports, the news about his presence was known to the security agencies, but action was avoided as there was fear of collateral damage.

The town had a presence of around 70 terrorists belonging to Harkat-ul-Ansar and Hizbul Mujahideen, according to many of the residents. The day the Army and BSF closed in on the township, the revered shrine and mosque were up in flames.

Many people, including Khadim, believe that Mast Gul escaped under the cover of darkness, heavy fog and rains from Sarbala Nallah and crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from South of Pir Panjal.

Ghulam Qadir Beidar, who was 32 at that time, remembers the entire area being cordoned off for a gruelling 66 days.

"Repeated appeals from senior army officers and top administration officials in the then Jammu and Kashmir governor Gen K.V. Krishna Rao fell on deaf ears as the holed-up terrorists were in no mood to vacate," he said.

"An offer for providing a safe passage was also given, but it did not work out," he recalled.

Beidar feels the town is still living with the scars of the tragedy as he points out that many households destroyed in the massive fire were never properly rehabilitated, and reconstruction efforts have reportedly stalled completely after 2008.

While the work of the main shrine was still being completed, the adjacent mosque was closed by the Lt Governor's administration after a team of the National Institute of Technology declared it unsafe. This was a new structure and it was flawed, said a resident.

The local population have raised questions over the construction quality, especially given the fact that substantial funds had been spent.

They have appealed to the administration, particularly the Lieutenant Governor, to intervene and initiate an inquiry against those involved in the mosque's construction. PTI SKL RT