Jammu, March 7
The one-man commission appointed by the government to inquire into the firing by the security forces on the crowds at Haigam (Sopore) and Maisuma (Srinagar), in which five persons were killed and several others wounded on February 15 and 16, last year, has justified the use of force.
While in the case of Haigam firing Mr Justice O.P. Sharma said the firing had become necessary and remained non-commital as far as Maisuma firing was concerned. The report of the commission was tabled in the state Assembly here today by the Law Minister Mr Mushtaq Ahmed Lone.
In the case of Haigam firing the report said firing was necessary because the crowd, which had blocked the national highway, refused to lift the blockade despite the request of Mr Khursheed Ahmed Khan, SHO, Sopore. The crowd also spurned the request of the Army convoy commander and Major Chandan Jha, commanding the quick reaction team to give them safe passage before his men were asked to push the crowd back. Since the crowd resisted physical force, including cane charge, firing had become necessary.
The commission stated that the crowd had become unruly which had endangered the Army convoy, which was scheduled to reach Srinagar from Uri at 4 p.m. The convoy was halted for over an hour and that too in an area which was militancy-infested. Hence, firing was necessary.
Mr Justice O.P. Sharma said Lance Naik Rajiv Kumar was empowered under Section 4 (A) of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1990 to use force and he could not be charged or tried for any offence under the Ranbir Penal Code. But as his action was in contravention of the instructions issued by the Army headquarters he was liable for disciplinary action for his failure to follow them. He also held the civil authorities responsible for not having deployed sufficient police force for removing the road block.
The commission has recommended the grant of Rs 1 lakh in favour of Ghulam Mohammad Dar (34) who was injured in the firing.
As far as Maisuma firing incident was concerned Mr Justice Sharma said firing was absolutely necessary and this was the minimum use of force by the person whose self and property was threatened by the unruly crowd. So the question of excessive use of force did not exist.
Earlier, during question hour the House witnessed animated discussion on the electricity crisis. The matter was also raised by Mr M.Y. Tarigami of the CPM and Mir Saifullah of the National Conference through a call attention motion.
Mr S.S. Slathia, Power Minister, informed the House that several small and medium scale power projects had been taken in hand and some of them were due to be commissioned within the next two years.
Another one-man commission appointed by the government for inquiring into omissions and commissions on the part of former Housing and Urban Development Minister, Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari in the project related to the development of a satellite town at Sidhra near Jammu has exonerated the Molvi of such charges.
Mr Justice K.K. Gupta, who was appointed to inquire into the scam has given a clean chit to Molvi Ansari, the Jammu Development Authority and the Jammu and Kashmir Bank with regard to the case.
The commission, whose report was tabled in the state Assembly here today by the Law Minister, Mr Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, said whatever Molvi Ansari did as a minister and whatever steps he, the Jammu Development Authority and the Jammu and Kashmir Bank had taken were all in good faith. The only error committed was that these agencies should have first checked the antecedents of M/s Infrastructure Projects Private Limited, which had offered to provide a loan of Rs 150 crore for the development of a satellite town at the interest rate of Rs 9.5 per cent.
