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Hyderpora killings: Mehbooba Mufti demands judicial probe, apology from JK LG Manoj Sinha
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday held a protest outside Raj Bhawan demanding a judicial probe into Hyderpora killings, and an apology from JK LG Manoj Sinha to the families of slain civilians
People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday held a protest outside Raj Bhawan demanding a judicial probe into Hyderpora killings, return of the body of Jammu resident Amir Magray and an apology by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to the families of slain civilians.
Mufti along with her supporters led a protest rally from her residence at Gupkar to one of the outer gates of Raj Bhawan where the police stopped them.
The protesters were seeking an apology from J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and raising slogans like “stop innocent killings” and “return Amir’s body”.
“Nobody is allowed to talk or even protest here. All the doors are closed. And there is tyranny and cruelty here for which they will have to apologise to the kin of Mudasir Gul, Altaf Bhat and Amir Magray,” Mehbooba told the media outside the closed gate.
“They were innocent and allegations were levelled against them that they were (overground workers of militants) or hybrid militants. Those allegations will have to be taken back and a judicial inquiry must be called to give stern punishment to those involved,” she said.
The J&K government led by Sinha has ordered a magisterial probe after questions were raised over an anti-militancy operation by security forces in which four people, including three residents of J&K and a suspected Pakistani, were killed at a shopping complex in Hyderpora on November 15. The police claimed that one was a Pakistani militant namely Bilal Bhai, alias Hyder, another was a so-called ‘hybrid’ militant (Amir Magray) and another two (Altaf Bhat and Mudasir Gul) were civilians who allegedly helped militants and were killed in cross-firing. However, the families of the three local residents, Altaf Bhat and Mudasir Gul of Srinagar and Amir Magray of Ramban in Jammu, have contested the police claims.
Bhat was the owner of the complex while Gul, a doctor and a businessman, had rented rooms there. Magray used to work at the complex.
The families of Bhat and Gul claimed that they were killed in cold blood and were used as human shields while Magray’s father said he and his son was a true nationalist.
After public backlash, the administration on Thursday exhumed the bodies of two civilians - Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Mudasir Gul. The police had buried all the four at Handwara, some 70 km away, without the presence of their families.
On Saturday, reports quoted Manoj Sinha saying in Jammu that things will be clearer in the coming days and that those found guilty in the Hyderpora encounter “won’t be spared”.
Mehbooba said the victims’ families must be compensated and LG Manoj Sinha should apologise personally to the families.
She also raised questions over the whole operation of the security forces. “They were saying that four people were there of which one was a militant. We doubt this,” she said.
