National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah and Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone on Friday responded strongly to the findings of the probe conducted by the police into the Shopian fake encounter.
Abdullah said the bodies of the slain youth should now be handed over to their family members for a proper burial.
“Why do they (security forces) not learn Machil, Pathribal and other fake encounters which destroy trust and further alienate people,” the National Conference vice-president said in a tweet and asked “who planted the incriminating material recovered from the site of encounter as per official version about the encounter.”
Reacting after Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar admitted at a press conference on Friday that DNA of deceased youth had matched with their family members, Omar took to Twitter and said: “The @JmuKmr Police has confirmed what the families of the dead young men have claimed all along – 3 innocent men were killed in an encounter & passed off as militants. Why do they not learn? Machil, Pathribal & the other fake encounters destroy trust & further alienate people”.
Omar further wrote, “According to this official version, incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. So who planted this “incriminating material”? . “These young men were buried somewhere in north Kashmir. It is imperative that the bodies be exhumed and handed over to the families immediately so that a proper burial can take place near their homes in Rajouri district,” Omar wrote.
Sajad Lone said he did not expect anything to change due to “the latest developments as such cases have happened in the past as well.”
“Will there be any change? Will the sanctity of human life be restored? No….Nothing will change. This encounter was exposed by our media forcing initiation of investigation. As hiding it in today’s digital age was not possible. My thoughts with the 3 men murdered in cold blood,” Lone wrote on Twitter.
“Had this been the first time, one could have hoped it won’t happen again. It is not the first time and not the last time. There is no deterrence and in Delhi there is a lot of tolerance for HR violations in Kashmir. Justice will be ornamental unless it is divine,” Lone wrote.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it was now up to the administration to take the case to its “logical conclusion.” “What happened in Shopian was a staged encounter wherein innocent laborers were murdered & passed off as militants. Now is the test for the administration to ensure justice to the families by taking the case to its logical conclusion of punishing the guilty. We demand stern & speedy action against the perpetrators of Shopian fake encounter. Swift, transparent and time-bound investigation should be ordered to deliver justice to the families of the victim,” said a tweet by a PDP spokesman.