Srinagar, Sept 26: Not surprisingly though, the family of Tufail Ashraf Mattoo of Rainawari Sunday rejected the ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh, announced for the relatives of the victims of Kashmir unrest, by the Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi yesterday.
Tufial, 17 was the first victim the ongoing unrest who was hit by a police teargas shell on June 11, triggering massive protests across the Valley. Since then 108 civilians have lost their lives in action by police and paramilitary CRPF.
Tufail died instantly after he was hit by a tear smoke canister near Gani Memorial Stadium in downtown Rajouri Kadal.
“We reject the ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 Lakh which is being offered to us by the central government,” said a member who was part of a meeting convened by Tahafuz-I-Haqooq-I-Insaani Committee, Saida Kadal—which was formed to fight for justice to Tufail. Tufail’s father, Muhammad Ashraf Mattoo, his other family members, relatives and locals participated in the meeting. They decided to reject the relief.
“Our beloved kids have laid their precious lives for the noble cause. We cannot sell the blood of our martyrs. We will never accept any such offer even if government pays crores of rupees to us,” the family members said. “We will never compromise on the murder of our dear ones. We would like to ask the rulers of the state that if their beloved ones are brutally killed, would they accept such any such offer.”
They said it would have been better if the “killer cops” were punished and brought to book. “It has been the policy of India to hush up the matter instead of bringing the killers to book and provide justice to the victims,” the family members said.
Tufail Mattoo was the only child to his parents and was on his way to home from tuitions when he was hit by the fatal tear smoke shell.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST