Army launches probe into ‘alleged ill-treatment of civilians’ in Kishtwar

“Further move of the group of terrorists is being monitored,” it added, tagging the Army’s Additional Directorate General of Public Information and the Northern Command.

Kishtwar Senior Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal, when contacted, said the police are verifying the allegations.

According to sources, the Army will probe allegations that four men from Kuath village were tortured in custody. As per sources, the men received a phone call on Wednesday morning, asking them to report to an Army camp in Kishtwar.

The call was made against the backdrop of the killing of a Junior Commissioned Officer of the Army and injuries to three soldiers in the Chask area on November 10. Days earlier, on November 7, two village defence guards were abducted and killed by militants in the Keshwan forests of Kishtwar.

The allegations of torture emerged just two days after Northern Army Commander Lt Genera M V Suchindra Kumar visited Kishtwar and reviewed the security situation there.

In December last year, three civilians were killed, allegedly in custody, after troops picked them up for questioning in connection with a terror attack on Army vehicles in Poonch.

While police had registered an FIR into the matter, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the families of the victims and assured justice. Later, an enquiry conducted by the troops referred to lapses in the conduct of some personnel. The Army unit allegedly connected with the killings was moved out of the district.