Omar Abdullah’s outburst on killing is not the first but he has failed to act everytime

Soon after Chief Minister’s speech in the assembly,J-K Police registered an FIR against the army for murder and ordered a magisterial probe into the killing. 

But this is not the first outburst from the Chief Minister after the killing of a civilian in the valley. In past,he has made many emotional speeches and ordered probes to investigate killings. But as the public anger subsides,it takes another killing to remind Chief Minister of the probes he had ordered in the past. Here are a few examples:

Sopore Custodial Death: On July 31,2011,Nazim Rashid Shalla,a resident of Sopore,was killed in police custody. And as the death sparked protests,Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ordered a probe. “We are not interested in covering up any of the facts or in protecting any of these who are responsible for the death (of Nazim),” he said to pacify the public anger. “I want all the facts made available (about the case). I want this done in days,not weeks or months”.

It has been more than one and a half year; the “days” Chief Minister talked about didn’t come. The probe is yet to be finalized and made public.

Machil Fake Encounter: In May 2010,Army lured three youth from Rafiabad with the promises of jobs,took them to the Line of Control (LoC),killed them in a fake encounter and dubbed them as militants. As the fake encounter was exposed,Omar Abdullah ordered a magisterial probe. “The government has taken a serious note of the killings and has ordered a magisterial probe,” Chief Minister said. “Machil encounter did not come to light due to some protest. Separatists did not tell us to investigate,nor the opposition,or the locals. The police have initiated the investigation on its own. If we wanted to hush it up,why would we initiate investigation into it?” The report,however,was never made public.

Cold blood murder of youth at Anantnag: On June 29,2010 police shot dead three youth at Anchidora in Anantnag. The police said that the youth were killed when they fired on violent protestors. But few days later as the videos of the murder showed policemen killing the youth inside the premises of a house,government ordered probe. The report that was submitted by the Additional District Magistrate indicted police for the murder. The government accepted the report and announced “action” against the police officials. However,in assembly when the government was asked what action has been taken against the policemen,Chief Minister said that “an explanation has been sought from the then SSP in connection with firing incident”. What was the response of the SSP and what action did the government take the government didn’t bother to inform the people.

2010 civilian killings:  The killing of a 17-year-old student Tufail Ahmad Mattoo sparked the 2010 summer uprising in which 110 civilians were killed in firing by police and paramilitary forces. J-K Chief Minister ordered a probe into the killing of first 17 killings. The inquiry officer,Syed Bashir-ud-din,who was the then chairman of State Human Rights Commission,was asked to submit his report within a month. Later the time was increased to three months. But as the Commission failed to submit its report even in six months,Central Reserve Police Force got stay on the Commission’s proceedings in the High Court. The probe report is yet to come even after more than two and half years have passed.

In Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s tenure,more than a dozen and a half probes have been ordered into the civilian killings in the valley. But only one report has been made public – one in which the Justice Bedi Commission exonerated Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the custodial death of a National Conference activist Haji Yousuf. In none of these cases,the government has taken any action against the armed personnel responsible for the killings.