Srinagar, October 03 (KMS): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the bodies of three labourers from Rajouri, who were killed in a fake encounter by Indian Army in Shopian in July, were exhumed and handed over to their families at Gantamulla in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
An official told media that the bodies of the three youth were exhumed and handed over to the families.
On July 18, Indian Army had killed three youth during a cordon and search operation in Amshipora area of Shopian and passed them on as “unidentified militants”. However, the victims were later identified by their families through the pictures released by the army as Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Muhammad Ibrar from Rajouri, who had gone to the Kashmir Valley in search of work.
Families of the slain youth had stated that their dear ones were killed in a fake encounter after which authorities ordered for an enquiry.
On September 18, in a brief statement, the Indian Army had stated that during the Shopian operation powers vested under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) were exceeded and the Do’s and Don’ts of Chief of Army Staff as approved by the Supreme Court had been contravened.
Soon after the army’s statement, the families of slain youth had demanded immediate exhumation of the bodies of their loved ones for proper burial at Rajouri.
It is to mention here that Indian troops had been repeatedly involved in fake encounter killings in IIOJK and Pathribal fake encounter of 2000 and Machil fake encounter of 2010 are its glaring examples.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference and other pro-freedom leaders and organizations have time and again maintained that Indian troops pick up innocent youth from their homes, kill them in staged encounters and label them as terrorists to malign the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom struggle. They maintained that Indian troops are engaged in the genocide of innocent Kashmiris and the Shopian fake encounter reflects the war crimes being perpetrated by them in the occupied territory.
They have repeatedly called for an impartial investigation into all incidents of killings by Indian troops in IIOJK through some independent international agency to bring the perpetrators to book.
