No terror link, not an encounter say families

Srinagar: The families of the two  businessmen, who died in the ‘encounter’ in Hyderpora, Srinagar  on Monday night have rejected  claims by Jammu and Kashmir  police that they had links with  terrorists, even as mainstream  political parties demanded an  independent, timebound probe.  Complicating matters further,  the families stepped up calls for  the return of the bodies of the  two businessmen, after police  who cited fears of a law and order  breakdown, buried the bodies in  north Kashmir, without handing them over to the families for  burial.

The families of the slain duo  refuted the police depiction of  events, saying that both Altaf  Bhat and Mudasir Gul were businessmen and had no terror links,  adding “there was no encounter  there and it was security forces  who fired.”

“My father was innocent and  was killed for being a Muslim,”  Altaf’s daughter told reporters  at their residence. “What was his  fault. Why? What we will do without him?”

Bhat’s niece Saima Bhat, a  journalist wrote on social media  that her uncle’s death was a “coldblooded murder” In Hyderpora,  and the “security forces used him  as a human shield.” The family of  Gul, a dentist by training, also  contested the police claims. “He  was not a terrorist and was running a business,” said one of his  relatives. “His children are waiting at home. They(police) are not  returning his body. Please do justice to us. Please give us his body.”

People’s Democratic Party  Chief Mehbooba Mufti pressed  for a “credible judicial inquiry to  bring out the truth & put an end  to this rampant culture of impunity.” “Using innocent civilians  as human shields, getting them  killed in cross-firing & then conveniently labeling them as OGWs  is part of GOIs rulebook now,” she  said on Twitter.

Jammu and Kashmir police on  Tuesday said that four people including an “over ground worker”  and a civilian, were killed in Monday’s anti-militancy operation in  Srinagar, the families of two civilians, both businessmen and identified as Altaf Bhat and Mudasir  Gul, however, rebutted the police  claim and said that they had no  links with militancy.

Jammu and Kashmir People’s  Conference said “the onus is on  the government to clear the air  on what happened in Hyderpora”.  “So far the government has made  conflicting statements and they  should establish the facts based  on evidence. In the meantime,  the bodies of deceased civilians  should be returned to the families pronto,” the party said.

Jammu & Kashmir National  Conference MPs Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone, and  Hasnain Masoodi “demanded an  impartial and time-bound probe  into the Hyderpora civilian Killings and demands of bereaved  families should be heard and respected”, said a party release.

IGP Vijay Kumar said a foreign militant was among the four  people killed in the operation in  Hyderpora locality.

The top police officer said the  encounter ensued as militants  fired on the searching party indiscriminately.