Shopian killings: CRPF resorted to indiscriminate firing on civilians: Report

Srinagar, August 04, 2014 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) probing the last year’s civilian killings in Shopian district of south Kashmir has observed that Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) resorted to indiscriminate firing on the fleeing civilians as if they were engaged in a war.

The panel, headed by Justice (Retd) ML Koul, has submitted its report to the authorities. Four persons were killed at Gagren area of Shopian on September 7, 2013 in firing by paramilitary CRPF, triggering Kashmir-wide protests and a subsequent probe by the authorities. The Koul commission in its report has described three of the slain persons as civilians. The killings took place on the day when conductor Zubin Mehta was in Srinagar for a concert at the Shalimar Garden.

In his 96-page report, Justice Koul—the former High Court judge—has termed the firing on the civilians as unwarranted brutal attack and crime.

“The Head Constable Ashok Kumar Pathania fired 26 shots and constable Santosh Kumar made six shots due to which three people got killed instantaneously and the two people were injured, one of whom died subsequently. This is nothing but an unwarranted brutal attack in which innocent people got killed without any justification and authority,” the report reads.

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