Kawa held on false charges, allege kin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 12

The family of Kashmiri man Bilal Ahmed Kawa, who was arrested by the Delhi Police for his alleged involvement in the 2000 Red Fort attack case on Friday, staged a protest in Srinagar.

The family assembled in the city centre and claimed that Kawa had been arrested on “false” charges and the Delhi police were trying to implicate him.

“Kawa was not hiding all these years. He travelled to Delhi for a medical checkup,” said Kawa’s mother Fatima. “The charges levelled against him are false and he has been arrested in case in which he had no hand. Had he been involved, why would he travel to Delhi?”

The family and relatives said Kawa was a teenager at the time when the incident took place.

“He is innocent. We know him from the past 20 years and he is not a terrorist,” said a neighbour of Kawa while blaming media for spreading misinformation about Kawa.

The family which hails from Srinagar’s old city have also contacted senior J&K police officials and apprised them of the arrest.

Kawa was arrested by the Delhi Police and the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on January 11 in Delhi on charges of involvement in the 2000 Red Fort attack case in which three persons, including two Army jawans, were killed. The Delhi police claimed that Kawa was a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative.