Among 92 civilian killings, Govt inquiring only 7

The government is inquiring the killing of only seven of the 92 civilians killed by Police, Army and paramilitary forces during the past three months.
According to sources in the Home department, the government is only inquiring the killing of Junaid Ahmad, 12, of Saidpora, Eidgah; Shabir Ahmad Mir of Tengpora, Batamaloo; lecturer Shabir Ahmad Mangoo of Khrew, Pulwama; ATM guard Riyaz Ahmad Shah; Showkat Ahmad Itoo, 25, Nabiza, and Saida Banoo, 42, of Churat, Qazigund.
For the past 27 years, the State has been ordering three types of probes into human rights violations committee by the armed forces – magisterial inquiries led by Deputy Commissioners or some senior bureaucrats, judicial inquiries and statutory inquiries under the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) Act of 1962.
Usually, the successive State governments would order one of the three types of these inquiries into the killings of civilians.
However, most often these inquiries would never conclude.
During the past 95 days of the ongoing uprising, 92 civilians have been killed at the hands of Police, Army and paramilitary forces.
The sources said the State government accepts that among the 92 civilian killings during the ongoing uprising, the killing of these seven by the government forces was “barbaric” as none of them was participating in protests or throwing stones.
They said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had passed strict instructions to conclude the investigations into these seven cases.
However, at the same time, she has not ordered inquiry into other cases as she believes they were party to the “violence on streets” by participating in protest demonstration and marches or by “storming camps of Police, Army and paramilitary forces”.
Earlier, the CM had justified the killings in the ongoing uprising saying, “Those hit by bullets or pellets had not gone to fetch milk or toffees.”
The sources said Mehbooba believes that among these 92, the seven were in no way involved in protests and the government forces were solely involved in their “cold-blooded killings”.
Junaid, 12, was killed inside his house when the government forces barged in and showered pellets at him, Junaid’s family members said demanding action against their beloved’s killers.
Shabir Ahmad Mir of Tengpora, Batamalloo was killed when he and his family members were watching TV and a police party barged into their house and started beating Shabir’s mother which Shabir could not bear and tried to save her but Police opened fire at him, killing him on the spot, his family members said.
Lecturer Shabir Ahmad Mangoo, 30, was brought dead in the morning after he along with many other youth of Khrew were taken away by Army’s 50 RR personnel during the night and tortured throughout the night, Shabir’s family said.
Following Mangoo’s killing, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda had accepted that the Army men were responsible for his killing and said such actions by troops would not be tolerated.
“There is no sanction to these incidents which are unjustified,” he said. “Nobody can support these incidents, and these acts will not be tolerated.”
A 21-year-old ATM guard Riyaz Ahmad Shah was killed after being hit by 360 pellets in his stomach when he was returning home from Kanikadal, where he was posted as an ATM guard, Riyaz’s family said.
A 25-year-old youth Showkat Ahmad, a 42-year-old woman Syeda Banoo, and Nabiza, all residents of Churat Qazigund, were killed when Army’s 9 RR opened fire at people standing by roadside in Qazigund, locals said.
Referring to the killing of the three persons by the Army in Qazigund, Lt Gen D S Hooda had accepted that the personnel of the Army’s 9 RR were involved in the killing which 15 Corps was investigating.