‘Will go to court if Amir’s body isn’t returned’

Father of Amir, who was killed in Hyderpora encounter, said  there is no proof against his son showing his links with militants

NT Correspondent

Srinagar: The family of Mohammad Amir Magray who was among the four killed in the controversial Hydepora encounter last week says they will approach the court if the authorities do not return the dead body of their kin.

Families of three out of four killed in the Hyderpora encounter which took place on November 15 in Srinagar rejected the claims made by J&K police that they had terror links. The relatives say their kin had no connection with militants. The encounter between the security forces and militants in which four died including a Pakistani, triggered a massive controversy in the valley. The authorities were forced to hand over the corpses of the two slain businessmen Altaf Bhat and Mudasir Gul, who were killed in the operation, to their families.

All four killed were buried initially in North Kashmir’s Handwara by the police. The slain Amir who was an employee of Gul was described as the “terror associate” by the IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar. The family is now waiting for Amir’s dead body. Amir’s father, Abdul Latief Magray, told News Trail on Thursday that they will approach the court if the body is not handed over to them. “I am trying to meet LG (Lieutenant Governor) sahib first. We will approach the High Court to seek justice if his (Amir’s) body is not given to us for proper burial,” said Magray.

Reiterating that his son was “innocent” and had no links with militancy, Magray says, no proof was shown to him by the police about his son’s alleged militant links. “When I reached Srinagar, the police officials told me that my son had militant links. But, they have not shown any proof to me yet,” he grieved. The J&K administration has already announced a magisterial probe into the killings. Magray also said that no one from the administration has contacted him to record his statement. “The LG sahib has announced a probe as well. We are also waiting for the call from the officials so that we can record our statements,” he said. “No one has contacted me yet,” he reiterated.

He said the dead body of his son should be returned to the family, without any delay. “My son was innocent. When they handed over the body of two civilians, we thought they would contact us as well,” he said and added that, “But, it is unfortunate that they are not giving us the body.”There has been a growing demand in the valley that the body of Amir should be returned to his family. J&K police is yet to release details on how slain Amir was connected to militants. People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti who led a protest on Sunday against the killing of civilians in Hyderpora had also demanded that the Amir’s body be given to his parents to conduct last rites. -(PTI)