By Groundxero
December 24, 2023
Jammu and Kashmir is seeing a sudden spurt in violent incidents — a deadly ambush by militants on Army, allegedly a retaliatory custodial-killing of civilians by the Army and gunning down of an ex-cop by unidentified persons. All these incidents within days of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India on December 11, unanimously upholding the power of the President to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special Status to the erstwhile State, has raised questions over the claim of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on X hailed the judgment as historic, and called it as a ray of hope, a promise of a bright future for the people of the state.
On December 21 (Thursday), suspected militants launched an attack on army personnel in the Poonch-Rajouri Area of Jammu and Kashmir, killing three soldiers, while three were injured. The death toll in the terror attack has by now risen to five, with two more soldiers succumbing to injuries. The Peoples Anti-Fascist Front, which officials believe is an offshoot of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Army.
Several civilians were picked up by the Army for questioning, after the ambush by the terrorists. On the next day, on Friday, three civilians were found dead with multiple injury marks on their bodies. Five more people were admitted to hospital with serious injuries. The three deceased civilians belonging to the Bakarwal community were identified as Safeer Hussain (37), Mohammed Showkat (26) and Shabir Ahmed (32). They are all residents of Topa Mastandara, a village a few kilometres away from the place where the four army men were killed in Poonch district. The Indian Express has reported that at least two of the three civilians killed allegedly during questioning by security forces in connection with the ambush had been associated with security forces in the past. The wives of 2 are pregnant. The third was a shepherd who married last year.
Locals and families alleged that the three deceased men were among the eight persons who were detained by the Army from their residences. They further alleged that the three were taken away for questioning in a camp and tortured to death by the Army following the terrorist attack in which five soldiers lost their lives on December 21. A report in The Wire quoted Muhammad Siddique, uncle of Showkat, one of the three dead civilians as saying “The army men picked up several civilians from their homes on Friday morning besides summoning a few of them to their camp over the phone”. In the same report, Noor Ahmad, brother of deceased Safeer Hussain, alleged that Safeer was detained by Army men from his home on Friday. “We were shocked to know in the evening that they had been killed. They have been killed in custody” he said.
The alleged custodial killing of civilians had triggered public protests. The locals want those responsible for the death of the three men and injuries to five others tried for murder and attempted murder so that justice is done. Following the huge uproar and protests over the incident, mobile internet services have been suspended in Rajouri and Poonch districts from Saturday, while a massive search and anti-terror operation is going on in the area.
The Army on Saturday stated on social media platform ‘X’ that it is committed to “extending full support and cooperation in the conduct of investigations” into the killings of three civilians. It has also ordered a thorough internal investigation into the deaths.
J&K Department of Information & Public Relations, which is directly run from New Delhi, announced on X: The death of three civilians was reported yesterday in Bafliaz of Poonch District. The medico legal formalities were conducted and legal action in this matter has been initiated by the appropriate authority.
Meanwhile, on December 24, a 72-year-old retired J&K Superintendent of Police Mohammed Shafi, who was now the “muezzin” of a mosque, was shot dead by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The incident took place while he was giving “azaan” — the call for prayer — from a mosque, the police said. Shafi had been a protected person with one security officer deployed with him round-the-clock who was withdrawn recently, Indian Express reported.
Killing of civilians in Jammu and Kashmir by the Army in counter-insurgency operations is not new. In 2020, three labourers from Rajouri district were killed in a staged gun battle by the Army in Amshipora village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district and passed off as terrorists. Later, a police investigation into the incident revealed that an Army Captain identified as Bhoopendra Singh alias Major Basheer Khan had abducted the three young men from their house, killed them and later planted “illegal weapons and material on their dead bodies and tried to tag them as hardcore terrorists.” An army court has handed a life sentence to the captain who was involved in the Amshipora fake encounter.
The Narendra Modi led Union government claims that violence has gone down significantly in Kashmir Valley, after August 5, 2019 after it abrogated Article 370 and downgraded the state into two union territories. At least 1,050 militants and 319 security men have been killed in 791 militancy-related incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since 2018, as per the Centre’s data. As per the MHA data, 184 civilians were killed in violence in J&K in the last four and a half years. 124 people, including 83 militants and 28 security personnel have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir in this year. In the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu, at least 10 civilians have been killed this year so far.