Kashmir Victims’ Kin Demand Justice as 2014 Inquiry Panel Silent

There are doubts instituting a new inquiry panel over Kashmir killings will make a difference, writes Ishfaq Naseem.

Ghulam Mohidin Kuchay, 71, couldn’t forget the day his son ventured out of his house at Humahama in Srinagar on 13 September 2010, only to return back dead. It was another day of the spell of agitation in Kashmir, which was triggered after three people were killed in fake encounter with forces, when Nisar Ahmad Kuchay learnt that the Quran was desecrated. He went out to protest but was fired upon by the forces and lost his life.

We heard the news of the desecration of holy Quran. My son couldn’t bear this and went out to protest and was fired upon by the joint party of CRPF and police.

Mohidin

Nisar’s brother Farooq Ahmad said that after the government announced a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to probe the circumstances in which over 100 people (including his brother) lost their lives, he visited its office many times to record the statements but no one has been held guilty in last two years. “It was a waste of time for us. We kept on repeating the same story at each hearing. I would visit the office of the commission both at Dalgate and Civil Secretariat but no action was taken,’’ said Farooq.

Koul Commission

The CoI (Commission of Inquiry) was announced on 20 June 2014, by former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ahead of the assembly elections held between November and December that year. The elections ousted Omar from power and the announcement was seen as a bid by him to reclaim lost ground due to the public outcry over excesses by the security forces in the 2010 unrest.

Headed by Justice (retd) ML Koul, the commission was supposed to complete the probe into the 2010 killings and any violation of the standard operating procedure within a stipulated time period of three months.  However, the CoI has failed to submit any report to the government, and its tenure has been extended at least six times in the last two years.

In June this year, the commission sought further extension and the proposal is under consideration by the state government.

A senior government official said that the Justice Koul has failed to submit even an interim report to the state administration and “seems to be interested only in getting perks and salary from the government.’’ Koul refused to comment over the delay in the probe. “I don’t have to say anything over the progress which the commission has made,” he told the Quint.

Delay in Probe

Jammu and Kashmir’s Law Secretary Abdul Majeed said that the extension of the commission’s term is being considered by the government. Despite lack of progress in the probe, the PDP-BJP government is determined that it “will try getting to the bottom of the circumstances’’ responsible for the civilian deaths in the past 58 days. Over 73 people have died, while 10,000 have been injured in clashes between the forces and the demonstrators across Kashmir.

In places like Damhal Hanjipora in Noorabad and Hasanpora in Bijbehara in south Kashmir, which are the worst hit, people have alleged excesses by forces and there are accusations of vandalisation of private property. Window panes of the houses have been broken by forces while civilians have been fired at even “when they were not part of the protests.’’  However, the government has not announced any probe so far even as it claims that the forces are exercising maximum restraint.

The Koul panel was given an extension in February 2015 by Governor NN Vohra and told to complete the probe in two months. The tenure was, however, subsequently also extended by Mehbooba Mufti’s government.

Justice Koul sought the extension, earlier on the plea that the records of the Commission were damaged in September 2014 floods. The delay in the probe is seen by the families of those who were killed in 2010 as a “tactic by the government’’ to deny them justice.

“The government is not interested in delivering justice. It can’t afford to take action against forces who are involved and only knows how to kill innocent civilians,’’ said Farooq Kuchay.

Demand For Justice

Along with Nisar, a teenager who lives at a short distance from his house, Adil Ahmad Teli, 17, was also killed on the same day. His brother, Bilal Ahmad, who drives an auto, said that the government was “shielding the guilty.’’

I have visited the commission and the court as well but the police personnel who shot dead my brother have not been punished.

Bilal Ahmad

Farooq recalled that six years ago, a procession was marching towards Humhama – it was not stopped anywhere after it started around 10 kilometres away from the district of Budgam.

It was entirely peaceful. The people were not stopped either by the personnel stationed at the paramilitary forces camp or by the police. But the police and the paramilitary force personnel who were deployed for duty at the Humahama railway bridge fired, in which 22 people were injured and my brother lost his life.

Farooq Ahmad

The family has not been able to overcome the grief since the killing of one of the youngest boys. “My mother often weeps as she kisses the plate in which my brother used to take food. She doesn’t allow us to open the room which was used by Nisar. We have still not removed the books kept there.’’

(The writer is a journalist based in Srinagar, Kashmir. He can be reached at @naseemishfaq1)

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