J&K: Their sons killed in fake encounter, kin to challenge AFT relief to Army Captain

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, November 14

Each time Haji Mohammad Yusuf sees the photo of his late son Abrar Ahmed, killed in a ‘staged encounter’ in Kashmir, he finds it difficult to hold back his tears.

His four-year-old grandson seated beside him at his house in Rajouri, Yusuf appears visibly agitated over the latest “tragedy” that has befallen his family — The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on Monday suspended the life sentence awarded to the Army Captain by the Summary General Court Martial for killing Ahmed and his two relatives in a fake encounter. “If not him, who killed my son,” Yusuf asks angrily, his voice choking.

Ahmed and the other two deceased, Mohammad Abrar and Imtiaz Ahmed, belonged to Kotranka in Rajouri district of Jammu division. The fake encounter took place at Amshipora in Shopian district of Kashmir in July 2020, leading to a huge public outcry. The Army had ordered a court of inquiry, which concluded that “the Captain staged the encounter and awarded him life sentence”. However, the AFT on Monday overturned suspended the sentence and granted him conditional bail.

“The Captain was found guilty of killing our children. His sentencing gave the three families a sense of closure. Now, the AFT order has shattered us again. Till we get justice from the higher court, we will have to daily relive the horror of the Army killing our children after labelling them terrorists,” says Yusuf.

Gearing up to challenge the AFT decision in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday morning, he says, “It was earlier proved in the court that our sons were innocent, and that the Army Captain staged the encounter. Whatever has happened only shows the poor have no voice in this country,” he asserts.

Yusuf says his son was employed in Kuwait and had returned home during the Covid lockdown. “I regret calling him home to oversee the construction of our new house. Had he not come, he would have been alive today,” he says.

The three youths are learnt to have visited Shopian to find work when they were killed. As their families had claimed their sons were innocent, the Army had constituted the Court of Inquiry, which concluded that the “troops had gone beyond what was expected of them under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act”. In September, appointment letters were handed over on compassionate grounds to Ahmed’s wife and the brothers of the other two.

Mohammad Abrar’s father Bagha Khan says their fight for justice is “far from over”. “We are not fighting for compensation or jobs, but for the honour and dignity of our children, who were termed as terrorists and then cleared by the court,” he maintains.

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#Fake Encounter #human rights #Indian Army #Jammu #Kashmir #Rajouri