While the army chief was busy “fighting for his honour” in the capital, his troops allegedly shot dead a youth in Laisar village, Baramulla district, sparking massive public protests.
While the army chief was busy “fighting for his honour” in the capital, his troops allegedly shot dead a youth in Laisar village, Baramulla district, sparking massive public protests.
Locals said Ashiq Hussain Rather was killed when the troops of 32 Rashtriya Rifles opened fire last night killing him on the spot. As the news about the incident spread, people took to streets and staged massive protests against the killing.
The villagers refused to bury the body throughout the night. It was only after assurances from the authorities that a probe would be ordered and the guilty punished that the people buried the body amid pro-freedom slogans.
“A case has been registered (against the army). The army too has ordered a probe. We too will look into it”, said Bashir Ahmad Bhat, district collector, Baramulla.
A defence spokesman at Srinagar said that a column of 32 Rashtriya Rifles established a cordon near a group of houses based on intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the village. “The presence of the army created some panic in a house, which led to an accidental discharge of a weapon in the hands of a Rashtriya Rifles soldier. The single bullet which was discharged hit one of the occupants of the house, Ashiq Hussian, who expired on the spot,” he said.
The defence spokesman said that the general officer commanding 15 corps, lieutenant general SA Hasnain, minister of state for home Nasir Aslam Wani, and Jammu and Kashmir DGP Kuldeep Khoda met a delegation from the village and confirmed that the unfortunate death was by an accidental discharge of a weapon and offered condolences to the family.
“The general officer commanding confirmed the institution of a military court of inquiry while the minister of state for home promised a parallel magisterial inquiry to confirm the chain of events and (to come up with) measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents”, he said.
The defence spokesman said attempts to escalate the situation by some elements were defused by the timely visit of high ranking military, state and police officials, admission of the innocence of the deceased and promise of necessary and timely compensation through ex gratia.
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