Farmers Movement Archive

JK LG Manoj Sinha must take responsibility of Hyderpora killings: Mehbooba Mufti

People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday wanted the Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to take the responsibility for innocent killings in Hyderpora encounter saying that such violence would further widen the chasm between the people of J&K and the rest of the country.Mufti said the incident at Hyderpora was “extremely tyrannical”. “And its responsibility should be taken by the LG here because he is the head of the administration and Delhi’s representative here. The responsibility of the safety of life and property of the people of J&K lies with him. And such an incident where three innocent civilians are killed and then they were labelled overground workers (OGWs) and hybrid militants and then their families had to beg for their bodies,” she said.The Jammu and Kashmir administration late on Thursday exhumed the bodies of the two civilians - Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Mudasir Gul - from the frontier police district of Handwara, killed in Monday’s gunfight in Srinagar and handed them over to their protesting families for their burial in Srinagar. The LG office also ordered a magisterial probe into the incident promising suitable action as soon as a report is submitted. It added the administration is committed to protecting the lives of civilians and will ensure there is no injustice.The police had maintained that the two men were “overground workers” of militant outfits and were killed in the crossfire, but their families said the two were used as human shields and called the killings “cold-blood murders”. The police had claimed that two militants were also killed in the encounter of which one was a Pakistani and another Amir Magray, a resident of Ramban, Jammu. People have also raised questions over Magray’s killing.The former J&K chief minister castigated the authorities for not handing over the body of Magray whom the police claimed was a ‘hybrid militant’ while the eyewitnesses and locals said he worked at the shopping complex where the encounter took place. “He belongs to a poor family, whose father has been awarded for killing a militant, and his body has not been handed over to his family. This type of tyranny won’t improve the situation here, but instead will further vitiate it. And the distance between the country and J&K will further widen,” Mehbooba said.“And if this violence continues, the coming time will be dangerous,” she cautioned. “The people have become so disillusioned or disheartened that neither they seek justice nor punishment,” she said.On whether it was possible that Article 370 will also be restored after the decision of the Central government to take back three farm laws, she said the struggle for its restoration would continue.“Our bad luck is that we don’t contribute hundreds of Parliament seats like UP and Punjab. We have just five seats. But nothing is impossible in the world. If the BJP took 70 years to revoke Article 370, we might take 70 months to get it back. But we will struggle for our identity and over the promise with the people of J&K by our country under the Constitution, we will struggle till not only Article 370 or 35-A is restored, but the Kashmir issue is also resolved,” she said.

Hindustan Times

21-11-2021

Chandigarh