AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
Srinagar, July 31 2013 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, after visiting Gool area of Ramban district, a five-member team of High Court Bar Association (HCBA) in its report on killing of four civilians, stated that the firing by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) was “unprovoked and unjustified.”
The five-member team comprising advocates Aijaz Bedar, Muhammad Ashraf Butt, Shabbir Ahmad Butt, Bilal Ahmad Wani and Arshad Andrabi submitted the report after having detailed interaction with the eyewitnesses and other respectable persons of the area.
“In the statement of the Chief Minister appearing in the newspaper on July 29, 2013, the blame has been put on local Imam who does not figure anywhere in the story. This statement is indicative of the mindset of the people at the helm of the affairs” in Srinagar and New Delhi, says the report.
It stated that IG BSF had already given a clean chit to his men “for killing so many civilians and has concluded that the firing was done in self-defence.”
“The locals are apprehensive that this case will also die its own death and justice will be eluded as ever. They requested the members of the High Court Bar Association to invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court to monitor and supervise the investigation of the case at all stages” states the report.
“BSF and police started unprovoked firing over the unarmed crowd. Bullet hit the head of Manzoor Ahmad Shan and one of his students Javid Ahmad Manhas alongwith two others persons named Abdul Latif Mann and Farooq Ahmad Beigh. They immediately fell down; people were running for shelter here and there. More than 60 people were reportedly seriously injured,” it states.
The report states that “the people are of the belief that the administration at different levels was trying to hush-up the matter.” It was also reported that the police had not recorded any statement at all under section 161 CrPC which only “strengthens the apprehension of the local population.”
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Phone: 92-51-4435548, 4435549
Fax: 92-51-4861736