Pakistan demands probe into killings of three Kashmiri labourers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has called for a transparent judicial inquiry, under international scrutiny, into the extra-judicial killings of three innocent Kashmiris in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on July 18, 2020.

The demand comes a day after the Indian army admitted its soldiers exceeded their powers during a “fake encounter” operation in IIOJK that killed three men, in a rare admission of wrongdoing in the disputed region. Soldiers deployed by New Delhi have long been accused of abusing their emergency powers in the occupied territory.

The Indian occupation forces had martyred 25-year old Imtiyaz Ahmed, 20-year old Mohammad Ibrar, and 16-year old Abrar Ahmed in a so-called “cordon and search” operation in Shopian on July 18, 2020. The young Kashmiri boys had come from Rajouri to work in an apple orchard as labourers.

To cover up the “cold blooded” murder of those innocent Kashmiris, the Indian occupation army had claimed the three were “unidentified terrorists”. To further hide their crime, instead of handing over the human remains to the families of the victims, the occupation forces had buried them in a graveyard marked for “foreign terrorists”. The incident generated outrage in IIOJK, with political groups, rights activists and residents demanding an independent probe into the deaths.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office in a statement, here on Saturday, said: “Two months after the killing, the Indian occupation Army itself has admitted that the three innocent Kashmiri labourers were killed extra-judicially — a hallmark of Indian occupation forces’ state-terrorism in IIOJK. In a statement issued on 18 September, the Indian Army has accepted that the powers vested under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) were exceeded.

“As the world community is aware, since its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 in IIOJK, India has taken its brutalisation of innocent Kashmiris to a new level. More than 300, mostly young, Kashmiris have been extra-judicially killed by the Indian occupation forces in fake ‘encounters’ and staged ‘cordon-and-search’ operations in IIOJK during the past one year.”

Pakistan had been consistently sensitising the world community, including the United Nations and the international human rights organisations, about India’s serious crimes against the Kashmiri people, the Foreign Office statement said, adding the Indian Army’s statement of September 18 was an acknowledgement that Indian occupation forces were guilty of war crimes in IIOJK.

“The BJP leadership must realise that they are directly responsible for crimes against the Kashmiri people. No illegal and inhuman Acts such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA) can provide impunity against the crimes that are being perpetrated in IIOJK,” it said.

“India should be well-aware that use of brutal force, including extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture in custody, use of pellet guns, burning and destruction of Kashmiris’ houses to inflict collective punishment, cannot break the will of Kashmiri people in their just struggle for the inalienable right to self-determination,” the Foreign Office stressed.

It said the international community must take immediate cognisance of the July 18, 2020 episode in IIOJK as well as other acts indicative of the RSS-BJP regime’s genocidal tendencies and hold it accountable for continuing crimes against the Kashmiri people.

On Friday, Indian army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said the soldiers on the operation had “exceeded” their powers and “contravened” the guidelines governing military conduct in IIOJK. “Disciplinary proceedings” would be taken against those responsible, Kalia added.

A concurrent police investigation into the killing had yet to establish the involvement of the three men “with terrorism or related activities,” the army statement added. Police normally accompany soldiers on such operations, although officials claimed that had not happened on the July operation.

The men’s families say the awaited results of a DNA test ordered as part of the investigation would prove they were local men.

The fake encounter in July revived memories of similar incidents across the restive territory. In 2010, three Indian army officers were found guilty of killing three labourers who had been branded as Pakistani infiltrators near the Line of Control. The killings sparked months of protests that left more than 100 civilians dead. In 2000, the army claimed it had killed five “terrorists” responsible for the massacre of 35 Sikhs, but an investigation found the five were locals killed by soldiers in a staged gun battle.

A slew of special emergency laws protect Indian soldiers serving in IIOJK from facing trial in civilian courts, and convictions in military courts are extremely rare.—News Desk/Agencies