THE AFTERMATH
The encounter was over and the soldiers were starting to move out of the village, but at about 6 p.m. troops had one last job for Shafqat Ahmad Bhat.
"They asked me to pick up an unexploded shell, dig a hole in the ground and bury it there," he said.
He led Reuters to a nearby rice paddy and pointed to a waterlogged crater where he said he buried the unexploded mortar used in the army operation.
After visiting the site on March 21, a Reuters journalist told the authorities about the mortar. A day later, bomb disposal experts from the army and police got rid of the rocket in a controlled explosion, a local official and witnesses said.
"There was a huge explosion. The earth shook," said Bilal Ahmed, an eyewitness.
Vaishnava denied the soldiers had forced a civilian to bury unexploded ordnance.
A fragile peace has returned to the village. The first apricot blossom of the season is beginning to bloom, while mynah birds chirp overhead.
But the trauma from the encounter has lingered.
Wuli Mohammed Naik, the grandfather of Jibran, the boy made to search houses, was one of many who said he was afraid to go out after dark.
"A man who is bitten by a snake is afraid of rope," he said.
