Qazi Shibli
The father of slain Athar Mushtaq who was killed in the Srinagar Encounter on December 31 has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Mehbooba Mufti, the former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir tweeted, “After losing his son in an alleged fake encounter, Athar Mushtaq’s father has been slapped with an FIR for demanding his dead body. His crime was to stage a peaceful protest. The inhabitants of Naya Kashmir can’t even question a callous admin & have been reduced to living corpses.”
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She tweeted that Mushtaq Ahmed had been slapped with an FIR, after which The Kashmiriyat got in touch with the family who said they have no clue whatsoever regarding any FIR, nor have they heard from any official about the same.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat a family member of Mushtaq Ahmed, a resident of the Bellow area in Pulwama said, “Nobody earlier informed us about any such development.” The family also said that they will fight for Justice through a proper legal channel. “No matter if we have to move to the supreme court, we will move there to get the bodies back,” his uncle had said.
He said, “We have heard rumours that a case has been filed against us in the local Police station, which is against the father of Athar and his two uncles and a neighbor of ours and a Local Moulvi. Seven people have been named by the police in the FIR which includes the father of Athar and his two uncles Mohammed Shafi Wani and Mohammed Hussain Wani,” he told The Kashmiriyat over the phone.
He said that nobody from the Police has provided them any information about any FIR lodged against them.
On 31 December, 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, the three soon protested in Srinagar claiming that their children are not militants and were killed without any provocation.
Zubair Lone (one among the slain) of Turkawangam, Shopian while pleading the innocence of his brother had told The Kashmiriyat, the family was in a complete state of shock, they 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 had said.
The Army in their statement while addressing a joint press conference at 2 RR headquarters at Zainakote, HMT, Srinagar had said that For the past many days, intelligence inputs were coming continuously about the movement of militants on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. On 30th January we developed leads and came to know that militants are hiding in a house right opposite Noora hospital at Lawaypora in the HMT area, GoC Kilo Force 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 had said.
Mushtaq Ahmed, Athar’s father in January dug a grave for his son, Athar (16) who was killed during a gunfight in Srinagar which the family claims was staged, and Athar along with two others slain in the encounter were innocent.
Since then the families of three youth have been demanding an investigation into the encounter and claiming that the three were innocent, Also, the families have been demanding that the three be handed over to the families for proper burial under proper religious code. The three according to a new policy of not handing over the dead bodies of slain Militants to their families were buried miles away from their homes. The Inspector-General of Police, Vijay Kumar had said, “Considering the Covid situation it was impossible for them to hand over the dead bodies of the trio to their families.”
Vijay Kumar had also said that the three were Militant associates and their association to Militant groups will be initially shared with their families. “We have 60 percent proof of their involvement and we are still working on collecting more evidence,” the IGP had said in a press conference in Srinagar.
The families after this addressed a press conference in Pulwama’s Bellow in which they reiterated their demand for the bodies of the trio and claimed that the three were killed in a staged encounter. Pertinently various videos of Mushtaq Ahmed, the father of Athar had gone viral on Social media. He was once heard asking people to wear black bands on their arms as a mark of protest. In Another video, Athar’s father had asked people to reach Bellow, however later, in another video said that his message of reaching to Bellow Pulwama was confined to Journalists only.
The Kashmiriyat called several Police officials who refused to comment on the issue. The Station House Officer, Rajpora Pulwama did not take our calls despite several attempts.
The Kashmir walla, however, quoted a senior Police official as saying, “on 5 February 2021, the police station Rajpora had received information “through reliable sources that after offering Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid Abu Bakr in Bellow village, a violent mob appeared near the mosque”.
Sources, however, told The Kashmiriyat that Athar’s Father including six others have been booked under FIR Number 7/2021 U/S 147, 341, 13 ULA RPC lodged at the Police station of Rajpora in Pulwama.
Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 advocates Punishment for unlawful activities for Whoever, takes part in or commits, or advocates, abets, advises or incites the commission of, any unlawful activity, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Whoever, in any way, assists any unlawful activity of any association declared unlawful under section 3, after the notification by which it has been so declared has become effective under sub-section (3) of that section, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both.