Protesting families of killed civilians detained in Srinagar

Srinagar, November 18

The protesting family members of civilians killed in Hyderpora encouter, who had been staging a sit-in at the Press Enclave here, were forcibly removed by the police around midnight and a few of them were detained, officials said on Thursday.

The protesting families were on a sit-in since Wednesday morning and held a candlelight vigil after the daylong protest. They stayed put at the Press Enclave braving a biting cold and demanding that the bodies of their kin be returned to them. However, the police forcibly removed the protesters from the site at around midnight, officials said. Before that, the area’s power supply was snapped.

PAGD demands judicial inquiry

• The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has sought a judicial probe. It said the magisterial inquiry ordered by the administration couldn’t be fair.
• “We will be writing to the President... In our view, only a judicial probe can be credible,” CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said.

Meanwhile, authorities exhumed bodies of Mohammad Altaf Bhat and Mudasir Gul, the civilians killed in the Hyderpora encounter, for handing them over to their families,. At the time of filing of this report, the bodies, accompanied by a police team, were being moved to Srinagar from Handwara.

Mainstream politicians from J&K have condemned the police action, video clips of which have gone viral on the social media. “Instead of handing over mortal remains of the innocent civilians, the police have arrested the family members for demanding the bodies of their loved ones. Unbelievably ruthless and insensitive. Least they can do is return the mortal remains immediately,” Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wrote on Twitter.

National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah called the action outrageous, saying this is how the J&K police were fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to remove ‘dil ki doori’ and ‘Dilli se doori’ made during an all-party meeting in June.

He said he had rarely seen families who have been “wronged” conduct themselves with such dignity. He said Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha should reach out to the families, hear them in person and hand over the bodies. People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone said the administration was intent on presenting its “inhuman and ugly face”. — PTI

Hurriyat for strike

The Hurriyat Conference has called for a shutdown on November 19 in support of the kin of the two civilians killed in Hyderpora. It has stunned the Kashmiris, the group said.