Nearly two months post their children left home, the families of the three Rajouri youth in complete disbelief of the news that hit the media about the killing of these cousins during an encounter in the Shopian’s Amshipora, await the Monday, “the administration has promised that the DNA samples will be out by Monday.”
Distressed and discouraged like millions of labourers in India, Abrar left for Kashmir in search of work on 17th of July along with his cousin named Abrar too. Packing a small bag, he handed over a cellphone to his wife, Shareen Akhtar, a local Rajouri girl, whom he married nearly three years ago.They had a boy, whom they named Irfan, he is fifteen months old now. “We did not want him to leave amid the escalating cases of coronavirus in the Kashmir valley, but he considered it imperative as it was his foremost duty to ensure his family has food to eat,” his father told The Kashmiriyat.
ALSO READ: DAY 2- ‘MILITANTS’ KILLED IN SHOPIAN ENCOUNTER REMAIN UNIDENTIFIED
Hours later, he called home, “I have reached Kashmir safely and i am hungry, i will call you back after dinner,” Abrar had told his sister at around 0830 PM, which the family says was the last time he spoke to his family members. The family constantly rang him up, but to no avail, as his phone was switched off.
On the 19th day of July, a day after an encounter raged in Shopian’s Amshipora, The Kashmiriyat reported that three unidentified Militants had been buried silently in Baramulla, even without them being identified. Families of almost seven Militants were called from various parts of Shopian to identify the slain, and nobody was able to, the bodies were later taken to Baramulla, in accordance with a new policy, wherein the authorities in Kashmir do not publicly identify militants killed in gunfights and their bodies are also not handed over to their families.The authorities cite Covid-19 as a reason and say it is aimed to stop the spread of the virus during last rites.
The Rashtriya Rifles of Indian Army had laid a cordon and search operation and nearly three hours post the siege and the initial exchange of gunfire, the local Police was informed regarding the presence of Militants in the area. The Army later during a press conference declared the slain to be ‘Likely’ Pakistani Militants, and also claimed to have recovered two pistols from the possession of the three slain ‘Militants.’’
“Kill me too, If we have to be killed this way, i will die Demanding Justice”
Back in Rajouri, unaware about the whereabouts of their children, the families of Abrar and two other missing youth lodged a complaint with the police stating that Imtiaz Ahmed, 21, son of Sabir Hussain, Ibrar Ahmed (17), son of Bagha Khan, and Ibrar Ahmed (25), son of Mohammad Yousuf, were missing and had had no contact with their families since the evening of July 17.
Abrar Ahmed had been working in Kuwait and had started building a concrete house for his family that consists of a mother, a father, his wife, a child and his brother, Javid Ahmed. The families intensified the searches and around 10 of August, the families with the assistance of a local activist filed a missing report in the Police station, Kotra, Two Days later, the photos of the photos of the youth slain in Shopian encounter went viral on social media, and Mohammed Yusuf, who was that time in the Rajouri township felt a strong tremor and fell down on his knees.
“What should i do, whom shall i inform, shall i tell his wife, confused and baffled, posed by questions and counters, i did not know what exactly must i do,” Mohammed Yusuf father of Abrar (25) told The Kashmiriyat. Yusuf concealed the tragic news from the other family members till August 13, when the family was called to the District Magistrate’s office in Rajouri for the DNA Samples. “Tears in my eyes,” he said, “i did not want to look at my daughter-in-law, Shareen, in her eyes.” Yusuf, since then, has not wanted to see Shareen, who has since then been desolate, the entire inconsolable family, in fact, even a month after the news reached them is in a complete distrust over the killings.
Imtiyaz lived in a rented accommodation in the area and he was the one who persuaded the other two to come to Kashmir as the labour charges were high, “the family was worried about him going to Kashmir with the sort of encounters happening almost everyday and people losing their lives.”
“My whole family is the Indian Army, one of my brothers Mohammed Bashir has fought the Kargil War, even today six members from our family are serving the Indian Army, Yusuf says, adding, “If the Army can do it to a family like us, they can do it with anyone.”
The toughest job, Yusuf says is to face the fifteen month old boy and the wife of Abrar, “I do not know, if we will ever come into terms with his murder, he was the most petted out here, in the family, he would buy gifts, take care of the minutest details to keep his mother happy, I do not want to live such life, the life we see shaping up in Kashmir, is worse than death, they must kill us all, But i will die demanding justice for my children.”
Forgotten blood clots stirred with Shopian encounter
The family and the relatives of the three youth have been alleging that the encounter was staged, if their claims prove true, will evoke painful memories of Pathribal incident of March 2000 where five civilians from Anantnag were killed by Indian security forces and passed off as ‘Foreign militants.
On the intervening night of August 3 and 4, 1998, 19 people were killed allegedly by security forces in their homes in Salian village of Poonch district in Jammu region. In November 2012, HC ordered a re-investigation of the case by the CBI when the state government informed the court that the case had been closed but it failed to produce the closure report before the court.
In this massacre the bodies were horribly mutilated, and in one case gruesomely decapitated with axes and sharp instruments. The official accounts such as FIR & RTI attribute the collateral damage to an “encounter” with or an attack by foreign militants. The survivors of the Sailan massacre however say that there were no militants involved.
The state Human Rights Commission inquiry, with all its inaccuracies and lacunas, mentions unnamed security forces and special police officers as responsible for the crime.
The Pathribal fake encounter of 2000.
In a fake encounter, Indian security forces On 25th March, 2000, carried out an operation to take down five “foreign militants” in the forests of Pathribal in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir. The army claimed the slain men were responsible for shooting 36 Sikh men five days before, on 20th March, 2000, in the incident now known as Chithi-singh pora massacre.
It later turned out that the five men were actually residents of villages around Pathribal, who had been abducted by army and police in the couple of days before the encounter. When civilians came out on the streets to protest the extrajudicial killings, they were met by open firing by personnel from the CRPF and SOF in Brakpora, with another eight people losing their lives.
In all, 49 civilians were killed in a matter of 15 days. Several pieces of incriminating evidence and a damning CBI investigation later, the army still stands shielded by the state machinery. Pathribal fake encounter is perhaps the best example to illustrate the kind of impunity that is enjoyed by the army in “disturbed” areas of the country. It also shows the perils of employing a force meant to deal with external security threats against citizens of their own country.
Despite heaps of evidence against certain members of the armed forces, and a CBI investigation clearly declaring the army to be guilty, the laws defined by Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Army Act, and Army Rules are such that they allow the army to walk away scot-free.
Machil- The last reported Fake encounter of 2010 .
On April 30, 2010, Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Mohammad Shafi Lone and Riyaz Ahmad Lone, all residents of Nadihal in Sopore, were lured to work as porters for the Army on the promise of high wages by an army source Bashir Ahmad Lone.
He had connived with another army source Abdul Hamid and Abbas to sell the trio for Rs 50,000 each to the army and taken them to Kalaroos village in Machil near the Line of Control (LoC).On reaching near the LoC, the trio was instead handed over to soldiers of 4 Rajputana Rifles who killed them in the fake encounter and dubbed them as Pakistani militants.
The next day, the army claimed it had foiled an infiltration bid on the LoC near Kupwara by killing three militants. It also claimed it had recovered five AK rifles, a large cache of ammunition and Pakistani currency from their possession.
However, back home, the sudden disappearance of the youth, who lived in three different Mohallas of Nadihal, led the families to file missing reports with the police after days of unsuccessful search.It was the police investigation which finally took the lid of the fake encounter. In their statement to the police, the family members of Riyaz had stated that Bashir took their son along with promises of arranging good jobs for them on the border.
Their poor family background and the desire to earn Rs 2000 a day, as promised by Bashir, lured the trio to the trap. While Riyaz was working as a small time mechanic in Sopore, Shahzad was a fruit vendor and Shafi worked as labourer.
During an interrogation by the police, Bashir had confessed that on April 26, 2010, he had a meeting with three youth. And asked them to come the next day.
On April 29, as per the police investigation, Bashir and Hamid took the trio to Kalaroos and handed them over to Indian army. During investigation, police ascertained their call records which confirmed they were in Thayen village of Kalaroos in Kupwara when the trio was killed in Machil.
The police had also recorded statements of the driver driving the vehicle in which three youths were taken from their native village of Nadihal to Kupwara before being gunned down at the LoC.The trio was buried in Machil. But when the bodies were brought for burial in local graveyard, people saw that their faces were painted with black colour to show “they are militants”.
Poonch Fake encounter 2011
In August 2011,Army claimed to have killed a Pakistani militant and divisional commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Abu Usman, after a 12-hour gun battle at Surankote area of Poonch district in Jammu Kashmir.
Later on it was found that the deceased was a civilian. A Special Police Officer (SPO) Noor Hussain and an Army jawan Abdul Majeed, who allegedly staged the killing of an unidentified mentally challenged civilian from Rajouri as part of a conspiracy to gain personal benefit.
DNA Samples
The Jammu and Kashmir Police immediately collected the DNA samples of families of all three youth of Rajouri for the cross examination with trio who were killed in July 18 encounter at Ashmipora, Shopian.
A Police team from Kashmir reached Rajouri and met officials at met the families of all three missing youth of Rajouri district, who claim that the trio killed at Shopian on July 18 were their kin.
” The investigation team met with the parents and other family members of the slain trio in the District Police Office Rajouri. Their statements were recorded,” the official said.
“Later, in presence of a magistrate, DNA samples of family members of all three slain youth were taken for cross matching with those killed on July 18 in Shopian gunbattle, whose samples have already been preserved.”
Deputy Commissioner Rajouri, Nazir Ahmed Sheikh said that the district administration facilitated collection of DNA samples of family members of all three missing persons.
Meanwhile, several delegations of locals,elders and civil society groups met the police team from Kashmir and Rajouri police officers and demanded an impartial independent probe into the July 18 encounter that took place at Ashmipora, Shopian in which three youth, who according to police and army were militants, were killed.
The family members have been asserting that DNA cross examination and exhumation of bodies should be allowed.
Speaking to media men, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar had said that DNA samples of family members and the slain trio will be sent to the Forensic Laboratory for matching.
The Jammu Kashmir Police Inspector General has said that police were working on two aspects of this case. “First, they will cross-examine the DNA samples of the slain with the families claiming them as their wards and to check their call details to find out whether they were in touch with the terrorists,” IGP Kashmir told the media.
Meanwhile Across the Political, Social and legal spectrum in Jammu Kashmir have raised their pitch to demand justice for the three families.
The Amnesty International and various political parties have already demanded an independent and transparent probe into the July 18 Shopian encounter to nail the truth.
Tweeting from her mother’s handle, Iltija Mufti, daughter of Mehbooba Mufti, said that it was the policy and pattern of the government of India to kill innocent youths in Kashmir in the name of militancy and decompose their bodies at unknown places.
Social Activist, Gufar Ahmed told The Kashmiriyat that it is important that justice be served to the families. “The Admin and Police have been helpful, but we expect that the help would not end till the families get Justice.”
Saima Chowdhary wrote on her twitter handle,
Before going to bed, remember the 3 innocents from Rajouri who got killed in Shopian. Wailing parents are demanding for Justice & Last remains of their sons. Justice should be delivered to the unconsoled family in order to restore faith in Democracy.