Tral boils over youth’s death in Army firing, another body found

Suhail A Shah & Majid Jahangir

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Tral/ Srinagar, April 14

A day after the killing of a 19-year-old youth in Tral, termed an over-ground worker of the Hizbul Mujahideen by the Army, the volatile town erupted in protests today that left nearly three dozen people injured. As the protests and clashes were on, another body of a suspected militant was recovered from the site of Monday’s firing.

Khalid Muzaffar, younger brother of Hizbul commander Burhan, was killed yesterday in Army firing in the Kamala forests of Tral. Khalid along with his three friends had gone to the forest to meet his militant brother.  While police and Army officers maintained that Khalid was killed in an exchange of fire, his family alleged it was a staged encounter.

Khalid’s father, Muzaffar Ahmad Wani, who is working as a principal at a government school, said his son had no bullet injury mark on the body.  “His skull was broken, his nose was broken and there were rope marks on his wrists,”  Wani said. He said Khalid, who worked at a diagnostic centre, was working at the laboratory till 12 noon after which his whereabouts were not known, “until they received the news of his killing”. The Army, however, dismissed the claim that Khalid was a civilian.

“...Khalid Wani, who has been operating as an over-ground worker, had taken the three youth, who were later arrested by the police, to meet Burhan for their recruitment into tanzeem (a terrorist outfit). The incident has thus prevented the three youth from being misguided by late Khalid Wani into joining the militant ranks,” an Army spokesman said in Srinagar. 

The three youths accompanying Khalid  were handed over to the police, he said. The Army said one more body was recovered from yesterday’s area of  operation.

“The body has been identified to be that of Younis Ahmad Ganie, a terrorist who was involved in an attack on Rafiq Dada, a surrendered terrorist, on April 6,” he said.

IGP , Kashmir, Javaid Gillani said the investigation showed that the four had gone to meet Burhan. “As of now, investigations have revealed that Khalid along with three youths had gone to the forest to meet Burhan and some of his associates. While the meeting was on, they spotted an Army patrol which resulted in an exchange of fire,” Gillani said. “We have some indications that he (Khalid) was involved in over-ground activities, but we are investigating,” he said.  On nature of injuries, Gillani said the post-mortem report was awaited.

Meanwhile, violent clashes erupted as the duo was laid to rest. Protesters also snatched an AK-47 rifle from a CRPF jawan. The IGP said the police and CRPF showed restraint during clashes. Some separatist leaders were detained while they were on way to Tral. Separatist groups have called for a shutdown in Tral tomorrow and a call for march to Tral on Friday.