Other LoC encounters under scanner

After the fake encounter on the Line of Control in Machil sector of Kupwara district came to light,the police have now started looking into other encounters...

After the fake encounter on the Line of Control in Machil sector of Kupwara district came to light,the police have now started looking into other encounters that occurred on the LoC in the recent past,especially the Tanghdar encounter where the Army had shown the killing of two unidentified militants on May 26.

Kupwara Senior Superintendent of Police Mohammad Yousuf confirmed that after the exposure of Kalaroos fake encounter,the police were investigating the others. We cant say that every encounter that happened on the LoC is fake. But we are a bit concerned now. We are investigating the encounter that occurred in Tanghdar sector and other encounters as well, he told The Indian Express.

In the last two months,the Army had claimed to have killed 14 militants in different sectors of the LoC in Kupwara district. All the militants were shown as infiltrators by different Army units who,according to them,were killed while trying to sneak into the Valley from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

On May 26,the troopers of 11 JAT had claimed to have killed two infiltrators. However,suspicion has been raised over this encounter as well as the chronology of the encounter has imprints similar to the Machil encounter where three innocent civilians were killed in a staged encounter by the Army.

Apprehension about fake encounters has increased as the police recently arrested a former Special Police Officer,Imran Joo of Keran village. He was detained after parents of two teenaged boys Shariq Ahmad Mir of Haria and Zahoor Ahmad of Halmatpora blamed him for kidnapping their sons.

On the complaint of the parents,Tregham Police swung into action and arrested Joo and later recovered both the boys from a remote village on the LoC near the Army camp.

During investigations,the boys told the police that Joo had promised them jobs in the Armys Intelligence Unit. However,sources said Joo was trying to seal a deal with an Army unit for passing off the two boys as militants. However,before Joo could hand over these boys to the unit,the police were alerted by the families of these boys.

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Surprisingly,the two boys who were taken to the LoC by road had not been enrolled in any of the Army transit points manned by the Army personnel. It is mandatory for everyone to get registered at the transit point even for the security force personnel. In case of these boys,there were no entries that give rise to suspicion.