Three militants stormed into Rukhsana Kauser’s home in a remote village in the Rajouri districtton Monday while four other militants remained outside.and started beating her parents in front of her.
Kauser, 18, and her brother turned on the gunmen, killing one and injuring two more.
One of the militants wanted to marry Kauser against her will, police said.
The insurgents went to the house looking for Kauser but her father, Noor Hussain, resisted their demands.
Rukshana Kauser later said that she had never touched a rifle till Monday. ‘I had never touched a rifle before this, let alone fired one – but I had seen heroes firing in films‘.
As the militants knocked at their door, Kauser’s parents asked her to hide under th bed and then opened the door. Once they were let in, the militants started beating her parents and her uncle without saying anything.
‘I could not see that. I thought I should try the bold act of encountering militants before dying’, Kauser said.
She grabbed one of the militants by the hair and banged his head against the wall. When he fell down she hit him with an axe, before snatching his rifle.
"I fired endlessly. The militant commander got 12 shots on his body."
Her brother, Eijaz, 19, grabbed one of the other militants’ guns and also began shooting. The exchange of fire with the militants had gone on for four hours.
Police identified the militant commander as Abu Osama, who was a member of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba group and had been active in the Rajouri area for the past five years.
Expecting ‘retaliatory’ attacks the Police have given protection to the family..
But the braveheart Kauser is unfazed. She agrees however that the militants are n’ot going to leave us ‘ after this embarrassment in which a top commander was killed. She asked the authorities to relocate them to a safer place like Rajouri town.
