Summary of this article
The Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered a probe into the death of a Ganderbal man following allegations by family members that he was killed in a fake encounter.
Both the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, and the PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti, had sought a probe in the matter.
Family members have demanded that they be allowed to exhume the body for the performance of the last rites
On Wednesday, Ajaz Mughal, who woke up at the crack of dawn, went on his routine work to extract sand and gravel from the Sindh River, which is fed from a glacier, from the east of the Amaranth Shrine. He goes at around 5 am and returns home after a work of five hours. As Ajaz was about to return home, a police official showed up at the site. He was informed that his brother, Rashid Ahmad Mughal, had met with an accident. It was a terrible moment for Ajaz, whose brother was known in his village of Choont Waliwar in Ganderbal district for helping out people getting Aadhaar and domicile cards issued through some of his friends who ran a computer centre in the district. Ajaz had felt proud about his brother’s achievements. His brother had a post-graduation degree in commerce and was known as a sincere student.
Ajaz believed the police and went to their control room in Srinagar. But what he found in the ambulance was his brother’s body. He said his brother had left home on March 31 at around 9:30 am and didn’t return in the evening, and inside the ambulance, he saw that the shirt he had worn was removed.
“The death was suspicious. He was wearing an old Pheran (a woolen cloak that is worn in Kashmir during winters), and the trouser was also tight on his body. The shoes were new, which no one in the village has. But it had rained heavily, his shoes were clean, and they were shining. I don’t understand how is that possible?” asked Ajaz.
On April 1, the Army claimed to have killed a militant. According to the statement issued by the Army in Srinagar, they had launched a cordon and search operation on March 31 based on specific information about the presence of militants in the Arhama area of Ganderbal.
Ajaz, however, said that his brother could never have been a militant and had rather applied for a job in the police. “My brother had completed his M.Com degree some two to three years back and was preparing for the exams for a government job. He did not have any association with any of the militant outfits,” he said.
On Tuesday, when the family said Rashid had left home, his brother thought he would have stayed at the house of one of his friends due to which he didn’t return home. “I called on my brother’s phone at around 8 pm. The phone was switched off when I tried calling repeatedly. I thought he had an old phone, and it may have been out of order. I had no idea that he would be dead,” said Ajaz.
After the family refuted the claims of the Army and threatened to hold a protest in case they were not handed over the body to perform the last rites in the village, the Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the death. An order has been issued by the Home Department, which handles issues of police, to initiate a probe into the incident. The District Magistrate of Ganderbal has been instructed to complete the probe within seven days.
The District Magistrate has been asked to get a magisterial inquiry conducted into the matter to “ascertain the facts and circumstances leading to the death.” “The inquiry may be completed within a period of seven days, and the report be submitted to the Home Department,” the order reads.
In a post on X, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who oversees the functioning of police, said, “I have ordered a thorough and impartial magisterial inquiry into the Arhama, Ganderbal incident. The inquiry will examine all aspects related to the incident and ensure that justice is served.”
An Army spokesperson based in Srinagar told Outlook that they were ready to cooperate in the investigation and would look into the allegations made by the family.
The killing has evoked outrage in Kashmir. Earlier, both the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, and the PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti, had sought a probe in the matter. Omar said in a social media post that the “claim of the family should not be dismissed out of hand.” “At the very least, this encounter needs a transparent and time-bound probe with the facts made public. Any attempt to obfuscate or delay the announcement of a probe will only damage credibility, and that is not in anyone’s interest,” he said.
Former MLA from Ganderbal, Ishfaq Jabbar, also took up the matter with the local police and administration. He said that he accompanied the family members to meet the concerned police officials today, and they have also sought that the body should be handed over to the family members to allow them to perform the last rites in their village. “This is a very poor family, and we have also sought that the FIR, which has been registered against the deceased person, should be withdrawn and the family be allowed to respectfully perform the last rites,” he said. “We have been assured that the magisterial inquiry, which has been ordered, will complete its report at the earliest and the family will get justice,” he added.
The family members have sought stringent action against those who were behind the killings. The uncle of the deceased man, Ghulam Rasool Mughal, said that the family was living from hand to mouth, and even the late father and brother of the deceased were working as labourers. “We want justice to be served in the case,” he said.
On Wednesday, however, when Ajaz identified the body of his brother at the police control room, he thought he would be able to take it home so that the other relatives could perform the last rites.
“After the post-mortem was done, the body was buried at Handwara. I tried a lot, I pleaded with the officials, asking them ‘Sir, he is my brother. Give the body to us, but none listened to me. They told me this can’t happen, they closed the door of the ambulance, and I was taken along. A grave had been prepared, and when I got out of the ambulance, some people had prepared the shroud, and I was not even allowed to go near when the body was buried,” he said.
Following the protests that had been witnessed earlier during the funerals of the militants, authorities have denied burials at their native places. The bodies are buried in the graveyards in North Kashmir’s Kupwara and Baramulla districts.
Ajaz said his brother was buried at a distance of some six hours from their village of some 900 households, which is mostly inhabited by poor Gujjar and Bakerwal families. “The burial happened at the time of evening prayers,” he said.
“Earlier, my elder brother was killed by the militants for working with the army. My brother was very well-read and wanted to work as a police constable and couldn’t have joined the militancy,” he added