Lawaypora Encounter: Family writes to LG seeks kin’s body, impartial probe

Pulwama, Shopian shuts to mourn deaths
Jahangeer Ganaie
Pulwama, Dec 31: The family of one of the three youth, whom police and army say were killed in an encounter at Lawaypora area of Srinagar, on Thursday demanded return of bodies of their kin besides an impartial probe into the incident to get justice.
The family of Aijaz Ahmad whose father is a policeman wrote to Lt Governor and demanded the dead body of Aijaz and investigation in the case.
“That the applicants are the maternal uncle and grandfather of the deceased and through the medium of this application wants to draw your kind attention, that the deceased was doing the graduation in Degree College Pulwama in arts subjects and in this regard has told the family members that he has some work at Pulwama on 29-12-2020,” the letter reads.
“That on 3 pm on the same date, the said deceased has called his sister namely Asiya Jan on phone that his work is incomplete and afterwords on 30-12-2020 at 9:00 SHO Rajpora has called the father of the deceased Mohd Maqbool Ganie and enquired about the deceased, in turn, the father of the deceased called back the SHO concerned and send the photograph of his son through WhatsApp. The SHO Rajpora in reply told the father of the deceased that he has to approach the PCR Batamallo Srinagar for further details of his son,” it further adds.
“That the said Mohd Maqbool Ganie along with the locals of the village went to the PCR, and where the father of the found the dead body of his son and told the PCR to hand over the body of the son, but the authority did not return the dead body of the deceased to his father,” the letter read, adding that the father of the deceased was astonished when the PCR authorities declined to hand over the body of the deceased to the father of the deceased and it was the surprise for the father of the deceased when the PCR authorities told him that his son was a militant.
“That it is worthwhile to mention here that the said deceased was a student by profession and has no criminal background and there is no FIR against the said deceased in any agency including the police station Rajpora,” letter further reads, while adding that the said deceased was not remotely connected with any anti-national activities and the question of joining militancy does not arise at all.
“That the killing of the said deceased is very brutal and calculated one which is against the law of the Iand and also hits the democracy and Indian constitution,” the letter reads.
“The killing of the said person is a gross violation of human rights, no doubt that station in the Kashmir is disturbed one, but that does not give the right to the security agency to kill an innocent in such a ruthless manner. It is therefore humbly prayed and requested, that the dead body of the said person be handed over to his family members as soon as possible for conducting the last rites of the deceased and a team of impartial officer be constituted for conducting the enquiry in the said matter in the interests of justice,” the letter reads.
The families of two other slain youth Ather Mushtaq and Zubair Ahmed have also alleged that their wards were innocent civilians and not connected with militancy.
“How can a person become a hardcore militant within two or three hours. If authorities are claiming that if the trio were not militants then what they were doing at the encounter site. They must answer how trio from Rajouri killed in Amshipora fake encounter reached from Chowgam to the encounter spot and where from the ammunition came,” they said.
The families said their sons were innocent and authorities must probe the matter and so that they can get justice.
Meanwhile, complete shutdown was observed in most parts of Pulwama and Shopian district to mourn the killings.
All business establishments remained shut and public transport also remained off the roads.
Internet services remained suspended in Shopian district for second consecutive day today. (KNO).

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