Residents of Chantikar village in Tral alleged that police have not sanitised the site of a gun battle between government forces and militants a week after it left two houses razed into mounds of debris.
Scores of people were seen visiting the gutted houses of Sanaullah Mir and Ghulam Mohammad Mir, both farmers, whose dwellings were razed to the ground during the gunfight on October 30 that left two militants dead.
“We want to remove the debris from these gutted structures and construct a shed before the harsh winter approaches,” said Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
“But we have been advised by police not to enter inside the gunfight site as unexploded shells may endanger human lives,” he said, fearing children may step inside the structures and do “something horrible”.
Police have put up a few banners asking people not to go close to the gunfight site, but the villagers claim they have not carried out any sanitisation of the debris.
“How can police be so irresponsible that the gunfight site has not been cleared since a week. Do they want to repeat the Larnoo Kulgam episode,” a villager told Greater Kashmir, standing among an angry group.
On October 21, seven civilians died in a blast near the site of a firefight in Larnoo village of Kulgam district, sparking an outrage.
On Tuesday, men, women, youths and even children took rounds of the houses where two militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad group — including the nephew of Masood Azhar — were killed during the five hours long encounter.
Sitting at the debris of their burnt houses, an aged man Ghulam Mohammad Mir and his brother Sanaullah Mir alleged no effort was made by the government forces to sanitise the place after the encounter.
Their neighbours said they visited the police station repeatedly to request for sanitising the site but officials didn’t “bother to clean the place yet”.
As the Mir brothers sat stoically talking about their fate, many of their neighbours joined them insisting there was no stone throwing in the area when the gunfight ended.
One of the villagers alleged that government forces during the dead of the night moved out of the area taking the bodies of the two slain militants along after the encounter ended but did not stop for a while longer to check for any littered explosives.
“They (forces) could have easily sanitised the gunfight site during these days but unfortunately no efforts were made,” a villager said.
The families who lost their houses during the gunfight are now living separately with their neighbours.
“For us life is like hell now. We do not know where to live with our children during the harsh winter,” said Khadija, wife of one of the house owners.
Additional director general of police, Munir Khan told Greater Kashmir the matter will be taken up with concerned police officer to sanitise the area immediately.