Iltija Mufti demands judicial probe Into civilian killings in Kathua, Baramulla
Barred from addressing media in Jammu, preventing from venturing out
Jammu: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti has demanded a judicial inquiry into extrajudicial killing of two civilians in Kathua and Baramulla districts by Indian forces in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Iltija, daughter of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, visited the family of a youth who was tortured to death the custody of Indian forces in Kathua. She was scheduled to address a press conference at party headquarters in Jammu but was not allowed to move out of the Circuit house by police personnel who were deployed in strength.
Iltija’s visit to Kathua comes a day after she said that she and her mother had been placed under house arrest in Srinagar. “I demand judicial inquiry into both the incidents of human rights violations which have taken place in Kathua and Baramulla. In Baramulla, a truck driver was shot dead by the Indian Army at a check-post on Wednesday.
And in the Kathua case, a man was taken into custody and was tortured to death by Station House Officer identified as Jitender Singh. The families said that their wards were being picked up to extort money from them. The whole area is under terror after the handiwork of the police officer, Iltija told reporters from inside the gate of the circuit house after she was denied permission to move out by police.
Questioning no action against the said officer so far, she said “I am a harmless girl… had I come here to break any law? I came from Srinagar to Jammu during the night hours like a thief and reached Kathua at 6 am. On returning to Jammu, I was detained.” “What wrong have I done? If there is any human rights violation, there should be accountability and we need to know why a youth ended his life like this?” she said.
Criticising the National Conference government, Iltija said the chief minister instead of consoling the widow of the deceased youth is hosting ‘Al fresco’ lunch in Delhi. The youth’s widow had not taken her meals for the last five days. “This government wants to absolve itself by saying that the law and order is the responsibility of the LG,” she said. “This is ‘Naya Kashmir’ and the true face of it. The elected government is too busy hosting a lunch in Delhi to care about victims of human rights violations,” she wrote on X.
