Pathribal, Brakpora killing: Victims’ families await justice

Srinagar, March 25, 2018 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, although the Indian Army has closed the Pathribal fake encounter case but even after 18 years the families of the victims vow to fight for justice. The Army had killed five persons and burnt their bodies beyond recognition in Pathribal area of Islamabad district on March 25 claiming that the killed were involved in the mass killing of members of Sikh community at Chittisinghpora in the district.

Thirty-five Sikhs were killed in disguise by Indian troops at Chattisinghpora on March 20 in 2000 on the eve of the then US President, Bill Clinton’s visit to India. Later the investigations proved that the persons killed in Pathribal were local civilians, who were picked up by the Indian Army from different areas and were killed in a fake encounter.

On the 18th anniversary of the killings, the victim families organised a remembrance meet in Brari Aangan village of Shangus in Islamabad district, today, to remember five people killed in the fake encounter by the army and the subsequent killing of eight protesters in Brakpora village by the forces’ personnel.

“The army might have given clean chit to the officers involved in the cold blooded murder of our kin but that certainly has not broken our resolve to fight for justice,” said Rashid Khan, son of one of the victims and a key witness in the case. Rashid Khan’s father Jumma Khan, a labourer by profession from Brari Aangan village, was among the five civilians killed in the fake encounter.

“How can you expect justice from those who are themselves the perpetrators of the crime, but then let me make it clear that we will not give up. That is why we have once again approached the Indian Supreme Court for a trial in open court,” said Rashid Khan. He also sought the intervention of international human rights organizations to help bring the culprits to book.

It is to mention here that the Pandian Commission set up by the then puppet regime into the killing of eight people during protests against the Pathribal fake encounter at Brakpora village while recommending an inquiry commission for all three incidents – Chatisinghpora, Pathribal and Brakpora – had stated that the incidents were inter-linked and need to be probed together. “What happened to the findings of the commission remains unknown,” the families lamented.

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