What has changed since you took over Mufti Sahib, asks Omar
Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who also holds the portfolio of Home, is under the scanner after the killing of a civilian Khalid Muzaffar at the hands of Army in Tral area of south Kashmir.
Khalid’s is the first civilian killing since Sayeed took over as the chief minister of the State.
Before, Sayeed’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) assumed power along with the rightwing Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), his party would often blame the former chief minister Omar Abdullah for giving a free hand to troops.
Now that the PDP-led government has not even ordered a probe into Khalid’s killing, questions are being asked about Mufti’s claims of making troops accountable.
In the budget session held at Jammu, the winter capital of the State, Sayeed had said that he would not allow troops to kill the innocent civilians.
“Until Armed Forces Special Powers Act goes, troops have to be held accountable,” he had said in his address to the Legislative Assembly.
In such circumstances, the government’s silence over the killing of a civilian by the Army has brought the Chief Minister, who is also the chief of the unified head headquarters, under the focus.
National Conference Working President and former chief minister, Omar Abdullah, also questioned the government and the chief minister over the civilian’s killing.
“Very sorry to hear about the death of Khalid Ahmad in Tral. I trust an impartial probe will be conducted in to the shooting immediately (sic),” Omar tweeted from the US, where he is to deliver an address at Georgetown University. “Earlier @jkpdp alleged that the incidents between ’09-’14 were because the security forces were given a free hand with no accountability Which begs the question – what has changed since you took over Mufti Sahib. You owe the people an answer (sic).”
Civil society activists and human rights defenders have also questioned the chief minister over the civilian’s killing.
Human rights defender, Khurram Parvez said not just the individual Army personnel but also the chief of the unified headquarters, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, and the entire Indian state was culpable because of the principle of command chain responsibility.
Army on Monday had claimed to have killed a militant in Kamala forests of Tral during a gunfight.
However, the slain youth turned out to be a civilian Khalid Muzaffar of Shariefabad Tral.
Khalid’s family alleged that he was killed in a fake encounter.
Suspicion of a fake encounter was raised when Army claimed to have killed a militant but police denied having any inputs about the killing.
Defence spokesperson, N N Joshi said Army stands by its version that the slain youth was a militant but SP Awantipora, Muhammad Irshad, said he was a civilian who happened to be a brother of a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander, Burhan Muzaffar.
Khalid’s father Muzaffar Ahmad, who is a principal of a government higher secondary school, alleged that his son had been killed in a fake encounter.
“We are sure he has been killed in a fake encounter and Army is now cooking up stories,” he said.
