VUZKHAH (ANANTNAG), APRIL 6: Even before the body was exhumed, the relatives of Zahoor Ahmad Dalal started wailing and crying. Dalal, a businessman from Anantnag was missing since March 24. His maternal uncle Nazir Ahmad Dalal identified the maroon sweater and the shirt as soon as the first grave was opened. The villagers had buried the half-burnt clothes of Dalal as well.``Zahoor was wearing these clothes when he was picked up. I am hundred per cent certain that they have killed him,'' Nazir Ahmad Dalal cried withthe half-burnt sweater and shirt in his hands. ``They (Army) killed themand claimed to have killed top militants. It is a shame. It is a shame forIndian democracy,'' he said. He said that Zahoor Ahamd Dalal was pickedup just outside their home at Mominabad. ``We had returned home after abusy day at our shop. He parked the Maruti car in the garage and went outnever to return,'' he said.The government had ordered exhumation of the bodies of all the five personswho the Army and the police claim to be militants killed in an encounterat Zontangri peak just a few hundred metres from this graveyard. The Armyand the police had claimed that these five slain ``militants'' had beeninvolved in the massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chitti Singhpora on March 20.The local population in this hamlet, Vuzkhal and adjoining villages, Chogam,Sumlam and Panchalthan had been accusing the Army and the police of killingfive civilians in ``a stage-managed encounter.'' As the missing villagersbelonged to the nearby villages, these killings led to mass protests in theentire Anantnag district. The Chief minister ordered a judicial probe after police fired upon demonstrating villagers, killing eight of them and wounding dozens.A team of doctors led by the head of the forensic department, GovernmentMedical College, Srinagar, reached the spot to exhume the bodies for forensic test in presence of the minister of State for Home, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, the newly posted district magistrate, G A Peer and Senior Superintendent of Police, Muneer Khan.As the statement of the relatives of Dalal were being recorded by theinvestigating police officers, who are also probing the incident on thedirections of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Anantnag, an old woman startedwailing. Roshan Jan, 50, had no doubts left that her husband, Juma Khan wasno more. ``Main nay uski thudi aur nak pehchan lee (I identified hisbearded chin and nose),'' she said. When asked whether she has any doubtsleft regarding the identity of her husband's body as there is just half ofthe face left, she screamed at this correspondent, ``I have lived my entirelife with him, how can I make a mistake in identifying him?''She said that though they have burnt their bodies, she could easilyrecognise him by his bearded chin and nose. Roshan Jan had come all the wayfrom village Brariangan for the identification and at home it is her son'sfourth-day ceremony too. Her son was among the eight villagers killed inthe police firing upon the demonstrating villagers, who were seekingexhumation of these bodies to ascertain the fate of their missing relativesand neighbours.``He was a old man and was feeding our 15 family members by working aslabourer for the village ironsmith,'' she said. She said the Army came inthe night on March 24 and asked him to accompany them. ``He neverreturned,'' she said. As this correspondent started talking to her son,Abdul Rasheed Khan, she was crying - ``Bohat zulam hova. Bohat zulam hova(This is tyranny)''.The doctors were examining the exhumed body, which was completely burnt.The relatives of all the five missing villagers were called but there wasnothing left to identify. By then a large number of villagers had alsoassembled in this small graveyard in the middle of the maize fieldsjust a few yards beneath a picturesque alpine forest.The police was worried as the process of exhumation was taking alot of time. ``It is a very dangerous area and the Home minister is alsohere. There is every likelihood of a militant attack,'' a police officersaid. District magistrate Peer, who was posted after the StateGovernment shifted the entire district administration for their failure intackling the situation properly, said that the government would wait for theDNA analysis to reach to a final conclusion. When asked whether the bodiesidentified by their relatives will be handed over to them, he said it would be decided by the court. ``We will also consult the team of doctors onit,'' he said.Home Minister Lone said that the government would not spare anybody involved in any unlawful activity. ``We will take action as per law irrespective of their rank and file. There will be no concessions to anybody,'' he said.
