Probe into death of J&K man whose 3 bros in Army, police

SRINAGAR: On a petition of rights activist Ahsan Untoo, the Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the Kupwara Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police on the death of a 20-year-old shopkeeper on Wednesday, whose one brother is in the Army and two are in the state police.

Photo for representation only. — iStock.

Majid Jahangir & Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 12

On a petition of rights activist Ahsan Untoo, the Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the Kupwara Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police on the death of a 20-year-old shopkeeper on Wednesday, whose one brother is in the Army and two are in the state police.

Kupwara District Magistrate Khalid Jehangir said a magisterial probe had been ordered.

Khalid Gafar was killed in Army firing at Trehgam in the frontier district of Kupwara on Wednesday evening. While the Army claims it had fired in self-defence, the deceased’s family claims he was not part of the mob and was at his shop in Bonupur.

Khalid was buried on Thursday amid a shutdown in the area. His brother, serving in the Army, had arrived home on a five-day vacation only hours before the shooting. “Khalid was killed in an area where there was no stone-pelting. He was in his shop,” claimed a grieving relative.

“A mob of 30-40 youths resorted to heavy stone-pelting at the Army’s highway domination patrol, which verbally cautioned them. Thereafter, two blank rounds were fired into the air. However, the stone-pelting intensified, endangering the safety of the patrol,” defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia had said.

Barely five days ago, three youths were killed in Kulgam clashes. Governor NN Vohra had then asked the security forces to strictly follow the laid down Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to avoid casualties and collateral damage, even in the face of extreme provocation.