Irshad Hussain
On Tuesday, family members of Mudasir Gul, who was ‘killed during cross firing’ as the police claims in Hyderpora gunfight, visited the concerned police station for the body of the slain, where they were told that body had already been dispatched to Handwara.
As the family reached the police control room for the dead body of their kin, they were told that their kin had been buried in middle of the night.
It is pertinent to mention that until yesterday, the police claimed that 3 people – two militants and ‘an O.G.W.’ Mohd. Altaf had been killed during the encounter that broke out between the police and the militants. Mohd. Altaf’s family, however, staged a protest in the middle of the night, said he was an innocent civilian and demanded his body back. However, the news of a 4th person, i.e, Mudasir Gul, having been killed only came to the fore this morning.
Family members of Mudasir Gul, a doctor, staged protest at the Press Enclave, Srinagar demanding that his body be returned for last rites.
Mudasir Gul had studied BDS and hailed from Srinagar. He was killed yesterday during the Hyderpora, Srinagar encounter. Mudasir has left behind two little kids, a wife and old parents.
“He went to the office for his work. And all of a sudden, we came to know that Mudasir got killed. It shocked us all,” Mudasir’s father-in-law told The Kashmiriyat.
Mudasir’s family members came out, protested at the press colony to plead his innocence, demanding justice. The police, on the other hand, said that Mudasir was killed during cross-firing.
The protesting family of Dr. Mudasir, while talking to The Kashmiriyat lamented, “For what crime was he killed? He was a doctor. Look at his parents and his kids. You’ll see you’ve killed an innocent. He had nothing to do with anyone. Today, everyone will come to know how innocents are killed, here.”
Another lamenting female member of the family said, “What was his crime? He had nothing to do with anyone. Did he have a gun in his hand that he retaliated with? He was a doctor.”
The family added that they don’t expect anything now, except for the dead body. “At least return us his body, for the final rituals,” they said.
Ishfaq Ahmed, a relative of Dr. Mudasir Gul, told The Kashmiriyat over phone that after completing B.D.S., Mudasir didn’t get any job here and thus, he got into construction work to earn livelihood.
“We don’t understand why the authorities are not returning Mudaisr’s body. Why are they denying us the right to give him a burial?” he questioned.
After the civilian killings in the Hyderpora gunfight, mainstream leaders took to Twitter demanding time bound investigation into the civilian killings.
“In the midst of conflicting claims in the Hyderpora encounter the least we deserve is a transparent description of what happened by a neutral institution. This is neither the first time nor the last time. @manojsinha_ U have the opportunity to assert that human lives matter, ” Sajad Gani Lone tweeted.
The former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu Kashmir and the PDP Chief, Mehbooba Mufti, took to twitter and said, “Using innocent civilians as human shields, getting them killed in cross firing & then conveniently labelling them as OGWs is part of GOIs rulebook now. Imperative that a credible judicial enquiry is done to bring out the truth & put an end to this rampant culture of impunity.”