Srinagar: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on Thursday demanded a “time-bound judicial inquiry” into Monday’s Hyderpora encounter and has also written a letter to the President of India apprising him of the situation in Kashmir.
The PAGD leaders attended a meeting at the residence of its chairman Dr Farooq Abdullah’s Gupkar residence. PAGD spokesman Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami who addressed the media after the media said there must be an end “ to the spree of civilian killings”.
“All the dead cannot return back but their children and rest of the family should get a sense of closure and atleast a sense of what these innocent civilians were punished for “said Tarigami. He said the PAGD constituents have decided to send across a letter to President of India from Dr Farooq Abdullah in which the amalgamation has “sought a credible investigation into the Hyderpora incident”. Tarigami said they were even trying to get an audience with the President of India.
“We don’t expect the same administration under whose watch this incident happened to now probe it. We have formed a resolution that a credible inquiry be held which is only a judicial inquiry. The perpetrators of this crime must be punished as per the law” Tarigami said.
“How much ever powerful the guilty might be, we consider such a person to be a law violator. Such law violators must be punished” Tarigami said.
The PAGD spokesman urged the judiciary and civil society of the country to speak up against the civilian killings in Kashmir. He said “ it was unfortunate that the relatives and family of the deceased were kept away from giving their slain kin a decent burial which is a legitimate constitutional right of every citizen of the country”.
“We appeal to people across the country to seek answers to such acts of innocent civilians being killed,” said Tarigami.
“We held a meeting of the PAGD today and the tragedy we have just witnessed which our innocent civilians faced at Hyderpora where three innocents were killed. We met here today to take a stock of the unfortunate situation,” Tarigami said. He said People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, who is also a PAGD constituent could not attend the meeting as she has been house arrested, he said.
“We may differ on political issues and may have a difference of opinion but the Hyderpora incident is something to ponder about” said Tarigami.
He said the PAGD constituent party leaders wanted to visit the bereaved families of the two Srinagar men killed in the encounter but added that they were not allowed to.
“It is all about sharing the grief and we are not here to earn political points. We extend grief to the families of the civilians killed” said Tarigami. He said the bodies of the slain men should be handed over to the families immediately.
“We will try to meet the national level leaders including the opposition parties and apprise them of what has been happening here. The bodies of the innocent civilians must be handed over to the families,” said Tarigami. “ Don’t treat the patience of people of Kashmir as silence as it is the decency of people. We may all differ on various points but we won’t allow Kashmir to turn into a graveyard,” said Tarigami.