SRINAGAR, 5 February 2007 — Shock and anger on fake encounters continued to simmer in the Kashmir Valley even as samples of the victims and their relatives were flown to Central Forensic Science Lab (CFSL), Chandigarh for DNA mapping yesterday afternoon.
A senior police officer said that DNA mapping would take 35 to 45 days.
The chargesheet against the police officers accused of disappearance and subsequent murder of five innocent south Kashmir civilians would be presented in the court of law here shortly since the probe has been completed.
The shocking revelations of fake encounters suspected for a long time have spawned demands for more exhumations and a deeper probe into the cases of missing persons.
The state government has formed a special investigating team (SIT) headed by the deputy inspector general of police, central Kashmir range, Farooq Ahmad to conduct a thorough probe into the matter.
The state chief minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, has strongly responded to the disclosures of fake encounters and made a commitment that “police officer of any rank found guilty of human rights violations would not be spared for his acts of commission or omission.”
The chief minister redefined the prime minister’s concept of zero tolerance on human rights saying, “It meant that violators of human rights while fighting militancy would not go unpunished.”
This, he said, while commenting on the arrest of SSP Hans Raj Parihar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhadur Ram and other police officials involved in fake encounters. “The countdown of zero tolerance on human rights violations has started,” Azad told newsmen in Jammu.
He said, “Those who for their personal promotions and awards have killed innocent civilians in the name of militancy are murderers and deserve the same treatment as murderers should be given.”
Azad, said that his government would “have also chosen to hide the murders committed by few security personnel” but he “chose to take action against them rather than shield their criminal acts.”
He said, “Not only the people of Jammu and Kashmir have liked this gesture of the government but at the national and international level our concern for protection of human rights was appreciated.”
Meanwhile, an Indian Army statement said, “An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cases of fake encounters following media reports alleging involvement of Rashtriya Rifles units in these cases.”
The Rashtriya Rifles is a special counterinsurgency force taken from the army to tackle the rebellion raging in Indian-Kashmir since 1989. “Disciplinary action will be initiated if anyone is found guilty,” the statement added.
Separately, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force said the paramilitary unit had also “constituted an internal inquiry into alleged fake encounters.” Both probes were to be completed within 30 days, officials said.
The probes come two days after the Indian Kashmir administration vowed to use an “iron hand” against the killing of civilians who were then labeled rebels by officers hoping to get rewards or promotions.
On Saturday, two police officers were held on charges of kidnap and murder involving an alleged “fake encounter.” Kashmir’s prominent moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, however, rejected the probes announced by the security personnel.
