Victim families seek international probe
The Army might have closed the Pathribal fake encounter case but even after seventeen years the victim families remain defiant and while seeking international probe vow to fight for justice.
On the 17th anniversary of the killings, the victim families are organizing a remembrance meet in Brari-Aangan village of Shangus in this South Kashmir district to remember five people killed in the stage managed encounter by army and the subsequent killing of eight protesters in Brakpora village by police and CRPF.
“The Army might have closed the case by giving a clean chit to the officers involved in the cold blooded murder of our kith but that certainly has not broken our resolve to fight for justice,” says Rashid Khan son of one of the victims and a key witness in the case.
Khan’s father Jumma Khan, 42, a laborer by profession from Brari Aangan village was one among the five civilians killed in fake encounter and later dubbed as a foreign militant.
“The killings inflicted wounds which could never heal but the mental torture we have undergone in these seventeen long years is beyond expression,” said Rashid Khan, 39.
Khan says though they felt dejected after the Army closed the case but for them verdict was on expected lines as they never expected justice from Army.
“How could you expect justice from those who are themselves the perpetrators of the crime but then let me make clear that we will not give up,” says defiant Khan who was 22 at the time of incident.
He sought the intervention of international humanitarian organizations to bring the culprits to book.
Khan said that they are organizing a remembrance meet on Saturday to convey it to the Army and government that they have not forgotten their loved ones.
“The Army might be in denial but it does not matter for us as everybody knows the truth. So we are organizing a meet and holding special prayers in Brari Aangan village to remember our loved ones,” says Khan.
He said that the families will be wearing black head bands and carrying placards to protest against the Army’s decision of giving clean chit to its officers.
What makes this Juma Khan’s story different from other four victims is that his younger son Rafiq Ahmad Khan, then 16, was also killed only a week after the incident on April 3, 2000 when police and CRPF opened fire on protesters who were demanding exhumation of bodies of five persons killed in Pathribal.
The villagers of Brari Aangan and adjacent villages had taken out procession towards the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office in Islamabad town. The protesters were fired upon by police at Brakpora village – 6 Kilometers from town on April 3, 2000 killing eight more persons and injuring many.
“It took eight persons to die for government to exhume bodies of five persons, dubbed as foreign militants, for DNA examination,” says Rashid.
Juma Khan is buried alongside his younger son in a graveyard of the village dedicated for the victims of Pathribal and Brakpora.
The other four civilians killed by army included Jumma Khan’s name sake, 50, a laborer by profession of same Brari Aangan village, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, 22 and Mohammad Yousuf Malik, 25 both from Halan, Kapran village in Verinag-Dooru area and Zahoor Ahmad Dalal, 20, of Moominabad locality of Islamabad town.
Both the Jumma Khans were picked up from their houses by Army in remote Brari Aangan village of Shangus during the dead of the night.
Malik and Bhat had a joint sheep business and were picked up from Sherpora locality of Islamabad town while Zahoor Dalal from Achajipora locality of the town was allegedly whisked away by police and government gunmen near Moominabad.
