SRINAGAR: The head of the six-party Gupkar Alliance on Article 370 restoration and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking a judicial probe into the Hyderpora encounter in which four persons including two businessmen from Srinagar were killed.
“The tragic incident that took place at Hyderpora, Srinagar, on the evening of November 15 has evoked enormous public anger. In this unfortunate incident, three civilians got killed in suspicious circumstances,” reads the letter written by Farooq Abdullah to the President on Thursday.
“The incident calls for a time-bound judicial probe so that facts are unraveled and brought in the public domain,” reads the letter adding, "Needless to state that such unfortunate incidents widen the gulf between people of Jammu and Kashmir and the Government of India and, therefore, are to be avoided at any cost."
“We would remind Your Excellency that the administration of J&K is being run in the name of Your Excellency by the Lt. Governor acting as an agent and therefore, an onerous responsibility is placed on your Excellency to ensure that the rule of law prevails and the involved erring officials are brought to book and punished under law,” further reads the letter.
According to police, four persons including a Pakistani militant Haider Bhai, his associate Amir Magray (from Ramban), OWG Dr Mudasir Gul and building owner Altaf Bhat were killed in the Hyderpora encounter.
The families of Amir, Mudasir and Altaf contested the police claim and alleged that it was a staged encounter and their wards were innocent and not connected with militancy. They also demanded the return of the bodies.
After the hue and cry and public anger, authorities handed over the bodies of Mudasir and Altaf to their families for burial last night while Amir’s body has not yet been handed over to his family.
Police had on Tuesday evening buried the bodies of all four killed in the incident in a graveyard at Handwara in north Kashmir, about 100 km from Srinagar.
Abdullah, the Lok Sabha MP, further informed the President in the letter of the practice of taking away bodies of the victims of such incidents and depriving their families of the right to organise their burial in accordance with religious practices.
“Your Excellency, the right to decent burial is well recognized in the Constitution of India as well as in the international humanitarian law. The dead bodies cannot be denied the right to burial under any circumstances including the so-called law and order problem. The bereaved families likewise also have a right to organise burial of the dead body in accordance with their religious practices,” reads the letter.
“In the last few years such rights have been violated with impunity. In the present case (Hyderpora incident) these rights are being denied. We would request Your Excellency to intervene in the matter and ensure that the dead bodies are returned to their families so that they can perform their last rites in accordance with their respective religious practices,” reads the letter and termed it a matter of grave concern calling for urgent action.