SRINAGAR: Former Chief Ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, and the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC), have demanded an impartial probe in the encounter at a house in Srinagars Hyderpora area.
The gunfight took place on Monday in which four persons, including a foreign terrorist, a local militant and two persons were killed. The police said two of the four were overground workers of terrorist groups.
“Using innocent civilians as human shields, getting them killed in cross firing and then conveniently labelling them as OGWs is a part of GOIs rulebook now. Imperative that a credible judicial enquiry is done to bring out the truth and put an end to this rampant culture of impunity,” Mufti tweeted.
“An impartial and credible inquiry in to the recent encounter in Hyderpora is an absolute necessity. There are far too many questions being raised about the encounter and about the people killed.” Omar tweeted.
“There have been numerous instances of fake encounters in the past and the questions raised about this #hyderporaencounter need to be answered swiftly and in a credible manner.” Omar tweeted.
Police said four persons were killed in an encounter at Hyderpora in Srinagar on Monday, including the foreign militant identified as Haider and his accomplice.
Inspector General Police Vijay Kumar said in a press conference that an overground worker of the militants and the house owner were also killed during the encounter. He said that the house owner was killed in a crossfire while Gul, living on rent in the building, had provided shelter to Haider and his associate.
The families of two persons, however, have disputed the police version.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) on Tuesday also demanded a thorough and impartial investigation into the Hyderpora encounter and urged the Lieutenant Governor to immediately hand over the bodies of the civilians killed to their families for the last rites.
According to the JKPC spokesperson, the party has urged the Administration to probe the claims of the family members of the slain civilians, who have contested the official version and refuted the allegations made by the police.
“It is concerning that the police and families of the slain civilians are making contrary claims. A thorough and impartial investigation is imperative to ascertain facts in this case. This will not only uphold the dignity of the institutions of justice and fair play but will also pacify peoples’ anger and address their apprehensions about the gunfight in question,” he said.
The party demanded handing over the bodies to their families for the last rites.
“The least the police and the administration can do is hand over the dead bodies of civilians to their respective families for the last rites. Denying dignity in death is an inhuman act,” the JKPC spokesperson said. — IANS
