Mohsina Malik
Yesterday, a joint team of Police, army’s 02 RR, and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) in Hokarsar, area of Srinagar. Soon after an encounter broke out in Lawaypora, HMT, Srinagar.
Early on Wednesday morning, the Jammu and Kashmir Police along with CRPF and Army claimed to have killed three militants during the encounter in the Lawaypora area of Srinagar, however, two of the families of the three have claimed that their children are not militants and were killed without any provocation.
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According to the family of Zubair Lone (one among the slain militants) of Turkawangam, Shopian while pleading his innocence said, the family is n a complete state of shock, we have nothing to do with all this. “He left home on Tuesday afternoon after having lunch with his family and said that he will return in the evening or by tomorrow, he had to get my bike back from a repairing shop,” his brother Aaquib told The Kashmiriyat.
Aaquib Lone, his brother, said I tried to call him initially yesterday evening and he did not pick up my call, then in the morning, I could not contact him as his phone was switched off, I thought his phone might have got discharged and will be returning towards home”.
Soon after I got a phone call from a police station in Srinagar, telling me, “Is Zubair your brother?, I said yes and they told me that he was a militant and got killed in an encounter at Lawaypora, Srinagar”. I was shocked and left my home to reach the police station in Srinagar, Aaquib told The Kashmiriyat over the phone.
The family members and relatives of the slain militant identified as Aijaz Ahmed Ganie of Putrigam, Pulwama, assembled outside the Police Control Room in Srinagar demanding the return of their child’s dead body.
They said that Aijaz left home a day ago to appear in examinations at university. The picture of the dead body of Aijaz on social media has shocked all of us, said one of the family members protesting outside PCR.
Earlier, the police had said, that three unidentified militants have been killed while the search operation is on.
The General officer Commanding (GoC) Kilo Force H S Sahi said that three militants killed in an encounter at Lawaypora on Srinagar outskirts were planning a big strike on the highway to gain publicity.
Addressing a joint press conference at 2 RR headquarters at Zainakote, HMT, Srinagar, GoC Kilo Force Sahi said that in the past one week, five militants including a Pakistani national were killed in two separate gunfights in north Kashmir.
For the past many days, intelligence inputs were coming continuously about the movement of militants on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. Yesterday, we developed leads and came to know that militants are hiding in a house right opposite Noora hospital at Lawaypora in the HMT area, Sahi said.
The militants fired indiscriminately at security forces and lobbed grenades as well. The operation was put to a halt due to dark but cordon layers were tightened. With the break of dawn, the encounter resumed once again and militants used heavy ammunition against security forces, the GoC said, adding that in the ensuing gunfight three militants were killed.
One AK 47 and two pistols were recovered from the possession of the slain Militants, officials said.
The Officials had earlier said that one top commander of Militants was trapped at the site of the encounter and later identified the trio as part of Al Badr Militant outfit.
Messages are being circulated on Social media from Militant outfits that the trio is not a part of any of the Militant outfits in the Kashmir valley, however, the authenticity of the messages could not be verified.
Sources meanwhile told The Kashmiriyat that the operation was conducted on an input received by the Indian Army. “It was an input received by Army on their own,” the Source said, adding that the families of the trio have identified the bodies and they are being buried hundreds of Kilometers away from home in Ganderbal Kashmir.
They said that the trio has no case of stone-throwing or Militancy related activities registered against them. “None of the families had filed any missing report,” the Sources revealed to The Kashmiriyat.
However, the families of three killed militants have denied the claim of the forces and are demanding the return of their children’s dead bodies.
As a precautionary measure, the authorities have snapped the internet in Pulwama and Shopian districts of South Kashmir.