On Wednesday, in a statement issued by the Kashmiri Pandit body ‘Reconciliation Return and Rehabilitation of Migrants,’ the chairman Satish Mahaldar demanded probe into the Hyderpora killings and called it a ‘Homicide.’
The chairman, in the statement titled ‘Probe Hyderpora Encounter Killings. The Homicide,’ issued to The Kashmiriyat said, “The Hyderpora incident seems to be a clear cut case of Homicide, the killing of one human being by another human being.”
He says that murder is the “unjustified, killing of one human being by another human being with malice aforethought.” And that the “families of two of the four killed in the Monday gunfight have categorically disputed the police version.”
The statement also says that over the years, militancy has had a direct impact on human rights in the valley of Kashmir, irrespective of their religion.
The ultimate aim of criminal law is protection of the right to personal liberty against invasion by others – protection of the weak against the lawless perpetrators, it reads further.
And that in order to protect the rights of the citizens, the State prescribes the rules of conduct and sanctions for their violation. There is a well-equipped machinery to enforce sanctions and procedures to protect that machinery, the statement says.
In the case of the Hyderpora incident, “it appears to be the case of utter selfishness, greed and intolerance that lead to the deprivation of life, liberty and property of other citizens requiring the State to step in for protection of the citizens’ rights.”
“If men were angels no government would be necessary”. It is the primary function of the government to protect the basic rights to life and property. The State has to give protection to persons against lawlessness, disorderly behavior, violent acts and fraudulent deeds of others. Liberty cannot exist without protection of the basic rights of the citizens by the Government, the statement says.
It notes that respect for human rights and rule of law must be the bedrock of the counter-insurgency strategies and implied that measures be taken to address the conditions conducive to the spread of insurgency, which include “the lack of rule of law and violations of human rights, ethnic, national and religious discrimination, political exclusion, and socio-economic marginalisation.”
The body, in the statement, suggests that the active participation and leadership of civil society must be fostered. Measures must be taken “to condemn human rights violations, prohibit them in national law, promptly investigate and prosecute them, and prevent them; and to give due attention to the rights of victims of human rights violations, for instance through restitution and compensation.”
The chairman, Satish Mahaldar urged the Director General (investigation) Jammu Kashmir Police to “constitute an investigating team of five members, consisting of one senior Superintendent of Police, two deputy SPs and two inspectors to conduct a fact finding enquiry of the Hyderpora incident.”