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‘He was an honest man, PDP worker’: Iltija Mufti appeals for body of man killed in Ganderbal encounter to be returned to family
PDP leader also asks Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sihha to make findings of probe into encounter public
Iltija Mufti, a leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
(Source: Express Archives)
People’s Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti on Friday visited the family of Rashid Mughal, the man killed in an Army encounter in Ganderbal earlier this month.
Mufti appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sihha to return Mughal’s body to his family. She said Mughal was a PDP worker and a local, asking, “How has he been branded a foreign militant?”
The L-G has already ordered a magisterial probe after questions were raised about the encounter, which took place on April 3. His family members and local residents have said he was not a militant.
The Home Department, which comes under the L-G, directed the District Magistrate of Ganderbal to complete the inquiry within seven days. The order said, “The issue has been examined and, accordingly, you are requested to get a thorough and impartial magisterial inquiry conducted into the matter to ascertain the facts and circumstances leading to the death of Rashid Ahmad Mughal… The inquiry may be completed within a period of seven days, and the report be submitted to the Home Department.”
Outside Mughal’s house in Ganderbal on Friday, Mufti alleged, “He was killed in broad daylight by the Army. He was an honest man and was a worker of the PDP. He left home in a Kameez Shalwar, and when his body was recovered, he was wearing trousers and a shirt, with a weapon planted on him.”
“He has a domicile certificate, a disability certificate, and he was a worker of our party. If he is a local, how has he been branded a foreign militant?” Iltija Mufti asked.
She thanked the L-G for his initiative in ordering a probe, but added, “If the family comes out on the streets to protest for his body, we will join them.” She also urged L-G Sinha to publicly release the findings of the probe.
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The Army had said in a statement after the encounter, without revealing the identity of the deceased, that a militant was killed after suspicious movement was observed in the Arhama area of Ganderbal.
Mufti alleged, “Kashmir is the only state in India where an innocent is killed, and then an excuse is given that he was a militant.”
Appealing for justice for his family, Mufti said, “I want to make a humble appeal that if his body is not returned to the family within a week, people here will agitate on the streets.”
As a matter of policy, bodies of militants killed in encounters with security forces are not returned to their families.
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The Defence spokesperson has said that the truth of the matter would come out. “The family can claim anything. It is a sensitive issue; the truth will come out,” the spokesperson had said when contacted earlier this month.
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