Youths killed in Srinagar encounter had terror links, say J&K Police
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Srinagar, January 1
Two of the three youths killed in an encounter with security forces in the Parimpora area of the city were “radically inclined” and working as overground workers of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror outfit, the police said on Friday and added that the case was being investigated.
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Mehbooba seeks impartial probe
- PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday sought an impartial investigation into the killing of three youths and demanded that the bodies be returned to their families.
- In a letter to Jammu and Kashmir Lt-Governor Manoj Sinha, Mufti said such incidents brought “disrepute” to the armed forces and were “a grave violation” of human rights.
In a statement here, a spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir Police said the claim of the family of one of the trio — Aijaz Maqbool Ganai — that he had gone to the university to fill up a form was verified through modern techniques and was found to be untrue.
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The families of the slain youths have claimed that they had no connection with militancy. They staged a protest outside the police control room here and claimed that those killed included a Class XI student, a university student and a carpenter.
A shutdown was observed in many parts of Srinagar on Friday against the killing of the youths in the encounter on Wednesday, officials said.
The police spokesman said the encounter started following inputs from the Army and was a joint operation of the Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the police. “After the cordon was laid, terrorists lobbed grenade from inside and fired upon the search party. Although as per SoP, the terrorists were repeatedly appealed by the troops to surrender in the evening and again in the morning. However, instead of surrendering, they fired at the troops and eventually got neutralised in a firefight,” the spokesman said. He said the claim of Ganai’s parents that he went to the university was verified and cross-checked through modern techniques, including records of the Telecom Department.
“Contrary to the claims, the verified digital evidence revealed and corroborated that Ganai and Ather Mushtaq had gone to Hyderpora and from there to the place of occurrence only,” he said.
The police spokesman said another youth —- Zubair Lone — had gone first to Pulwama, then Anantnag, then to Shopian and again to Pulwama and finally came to Parimpora here.
He said a background check had also revealed that Ganai and Mustaq were both overground workers (OGWs) and provided logistic support to militants. — PTI
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