Panch goes missing in Kashmir

Tribune News Service
Srinagar, August 24

A panch from the outskirts of Srinagar is missing since August 19, even as an unverified audio recording by a suspected militant claims that he has been killed.

The Panch, Nissar Ahmad Bhat of Khonmoh, had gone to south Kashmir’s Shopian district on August 19 and is missing since then, according to his family. The family had lodged a missing persons report.

A police officer said they are trying to trace the Panch.

An audio clip that surfaced on Sunday evening claimed the Panch has been killed and they “did not return the body due to CoVID -19 pandemic.”

“The clip being circulating seems fake,” the police officer said.

After a series of attacks on panchayat members this month, the government had shifted many of them to safe locations.