CISF firing killing youth unwarranted, inexcusable: Omar Abdullah

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday slammed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) over the killing of a youth during firing on protesters, accusing it of using "excessive" force which was "unwarranted and inexcusable".

As the incident during protests against power shortage outside NHPC-run Uri Power Project at Boniyar on Monday sparked an outrage, Abdullah flew in from the winter capital Jammu and met the family members of Altaf Ahmad at Barnait village in Uri tehsil, 90km from Srinagar.

Abdullah told the family his government will spare no effort in ensuring exemplary punishment to the CISF personnel responsible for the killing. Five CISF personnel were arrested hours after the incident.

He said the CISF action cannot be seen as done in self defence going by the location of injuries on the body of Ahmad and the number of rounds fired.

"The circumstances of his (Altaf's) death are tragic, shocking and inexcusable," Abdullah wrote on the microblogging site Twitter and told reporters after meeting the family.

Abdullah further said the "excessive" use of force was unwarranted.

"The government will spare no effort in handing over severe punishment to the culprits. Justice will be done," he added.

This was Omar’s first visit to family of a victim of firing by security forces since taking over as chief minister in 2009.

"Even if we have to move any court or take course to any law to punish the personnel behind the killing of Altaf Ahmad, we would do so positively," he asserted. The chief minister said no one was sure whether the youth was even part of the protests.

CISF chief NR Das also visited the firing spot and said his force will conduct a parallel internal inquiry into the incident. He promised that the guilty will be punished.

Das said initial reports suggested that his men were "outnumbered" at the protest site.

"We are finding out why this incident has taken place and we will make our own internal inquiry," Das said, adding "CISF has always been a very humane force and having a good contact with the locals and not a single incident has taken place." He said the CISF has been in the area since 1992.

Abdullah cautioned the people against drawing parallels between death of Ahmad and teenager Tufail Matoo, whose death in 2010 was seen as fuelling the five-month long summer unrest that left 120 persons dead and hundreds injured.

"If we had responded as effectively as in Tufail's incident, perhaps the peace would not have broken then either.

"Though I am sure some amongst your fraternity will be rushing to compare this to Tufail Mattoo and go down that road again," he said in response to a tweet from a journalist.

Meanwhile, state cabinet minister and local MLA Taj Mohiuddin had to face some embarassing moments as he was not allowed to address the people, eyewitnesses told PTI.

They said the people raised slogans against the minister, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat.

Several mainstream and separatist leaders also visited the bereaved family.

Opposition PDP president Mehbooba Mufti accused the Abdullah government of being busy in a survival game while ignoring the basic needs of the people.

"This government has failed on all fronts, which has led to the latest incident," Mehbooba said.

Separatist JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik also visited the family and urged the local people not to resort to violence during protests.

"The killing is condemnable and we have to protest. However, the protests should be peaceful," he added.

Uri town observed a general strike against the killing and held protests at some places including Boniyar and Salamabad.

Local residents also forced the Hindustan Construction Corporation (HCC) to suspend work on the second phase of Uri power project.

Addressing a public gathering in Uri, the chief minister said his current visit to the remote village is only to console the bereaved family and assure that the killers of Ahmad would not be allowed to go scot-free.