Parties protest over civilian deaths, seek impartial probe

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, December 23

The deaths of three civilians reportedly in the Army custody has triggered protests by political parties and residents who called for a fair probe into the matter. The issue turned into a major storm after a purported video of the interrogation of one of the persons, picked up for questioning, went viral.

CPM: fair probe must

CPM leader MY Tarigami says a fair probe is crucial to ascertaining the reason behind the deaths. “Also condemning in no uncertain terms the militant attack in which soldiers made the ultimate sacrifices in the line of duty,” he adds.

Suspects’ army link

Mahmood Ahmed, sarpanch of the Bafliaz Mastan Dara panchayat, says the suspicion might have arisen on the eight local residents who were interrogated, as they have been directly or indirectly associated with the Army.

PDP DEMANDS Rs 50 lakh relief

A compensation of Rs 50 lakh each must be given to the families of the three civilians. Mehbooba Mufti, PDP Chief

Officials had claimed that the three men — Safeer Hussain (43), Mohammad Showket (27) and Shabir Ahmad (32) — were found dead under suspicious circumstances near the site of ambush by terrorists on Army vehicles on Friday. Mahmood Ahmed, sarpanch, Bafliaz Mastan Dara panchayat, said eight persons had been taken away by the Army from Topa Peer village for interrogation and three out of them died. “The deceased belong to poor families. They were labourers who earlier worked with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). Relatives of one of the deceased is a government employee while the brother of another victim is an Army porter,” claimed Ahmed.

He said the suspicion might have arisen on the eight residents as they are directly or indirectly associated with the Army. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, however, claimed that 15 people were picked up by the Army for questioning. “The remaining 12 persons are admitted to different hospitals. They are in a critical condition,” Mehbooba said at a press conference at the party headquarters in Srinagar on Saturday. She said the people of Rajouri and Poonch districts were peace-loving and never supported terrorism.

Senior CPM leader MY Tarigami demanded a fair probe into the “mysterious” deaths. “A prompt and impartial probe is crucial to ascertain the reason behind their death. Also condemning in no uncertain terms the militant attack in which soldiers made the ultimate sacrifices in the line of duty,” he said.

Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari expressed shock over the incident. “It is painful to witness civilians being mercilessly beaten up by security personnel. Such incidents should not be tolerated as they tarnish the reputation of the armed forces and foster alienation of people from military men,” he said.

Scores of activists of the Apni Party, led by their Kashmir provincial president Ashraf Mir, protested at the party headquarters in the Church Lane area in Srinagar.

The National Conference (NC) also protested over the issue in Srinagar. NC workers were stopped by the police when they tried to march out of their party office. “The NC has always condemned terror. When the government announced NIA inquiry into the killing of Army men, an inquiry should also be launched into the killing of civilians,” party’s general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said. (With inputs)