Militant outfit Hizbul-Mujahideen and various separatist leaders and parties have strongly condemned alleged custodial death of school principal Rizwan Ahmad Pandit of Awantipora, Pulwama.
In an e-mailed statement to KNS, Hizb operational spokesmanBurhan-u-Din while quoting the outfit chief Syed Salahudin, deputy chiefSaifullah Khalid and field operational commander Muhammad Bin Qasim, said that”the custodial killing of Rizwan is highly condemnable.”
Terming the incident as ‘human rights violation’, they said,”Forces must refrain from using tactics in Kashmir.”
They also paid tributes to Rizwan and prayed for hisheavenly abode.
Spokesman of Hurriyat Conference (M) in a statement saidthat “the incident has left entire Kashmir in a state of deep shock and grief.This exhibits how people of Kashmir are denied the right to life.”
The Hurriyat (M) spokesman urged international community andall human rights bodies across the globe to “take strong note of Rizwan’skilling in police custody and play their role in ending human rights abuses inKashmir.”
Senior vice-chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF) senior vice chairman Abdul Hamid Bhat in a statement said that”custodial killing of Rizwan amounts to murder of a whole generation. This isthe oppression that is pushing and has pushed our generations to the wall.”
The JKLF leader said, “Today a young brain has beenvictimized and killed in cold blood by the forces and we are being asked tokeep mum as the probe has been ordered. History of such killings and massacresis a witness that these probes and investigations are only meant to hoodwinkthe public opinion and provide clean chit to the killers.”
He expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayedfor peace to the departed soul. Jammu Kashmir National Front (NF) rejected thegovernment probe and demanded an impartial investigation into the matter sothat the culprits are brought to book.
Spokesman of MuslimLeague (ML), headed by incarcerated leader Masarat Aalam Bhat, said, “Thiskilling of an innocent teacher should be investigated by a specialinvestigation team (SIT) so that killers are punished,” he added.
Other separatists Shabir Ahmad Dar, Muhammad Iqbal Mir, Muhammad Ahsaan Untoo, Imtiyaz Ahmad Reshi and Ghulam Nabi Waseem , in a joint statement also condemned Rizwan’s custodial death and termed it as ‘cold blooded murder’.