Now India’s own credible media outlets have raised questions over the claim by the Modi regime about the killing of five, what it said, ‘infiltrators’ by its occupation army along the Line of Control in Kupwara on October 26.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Calcutta-based Indian English newspaper, The Telegraph, in its report said, “Multiple videos of residents of Sonat village in Neelum Valley [Azad Kashmir], on the other side of the Line of Control, now claim that the five men could be their ‘innocent relatives’ who had gone missing on October 26.”
newspaper quoted the residents of a village in Neelum Valley, AJK, and said, “Five men who died in a purported gunfight with security forces in Kupwara last Thursday could be their missing relatives who had gone to the forests to collect herbs, bringing into question the [Indian] army’s claim of having killed five Lashkar militants in the operation”.
On October 26, Indian army and police claimed that they had killed militants in Operation Shikanja in the Machaal sector of Kupwara during a daylong gunfight.
However, the newspaper said, “Multiple videos of residents of Sonat village in Neelum Valley, on the other side of the LoC, now claim that the five men could be their innocent relatives who had gone missing on October 26”.
One video shows local political and social activist Mohammad Idrees, surrounded by the relatives of the missing men, saying the villagers depend on the forests for their livelihood.
“They (five men) had gone to the forests to collect herbs. By mistake, they seem to have crossed (the LoC). By evening, when they did not return, their families lodged a missing (persons) report with the police. The next day, the Indian media said five terrorists had been killed,” Idrees said.
“They are innocent labourers who had no links with jihadi groups. Perhaps they crossed (the LoC) by mistake or were picked up by the Indian army and killed. We request authorities to hand over the bodies to us for proper burial.”
AJK-based “journalist Tariq Naqash, who works for The Dawn, posted a picture of the 11-year-old son of Fayaz Ahamad, one of the missing men, on his social media account.”
Local people have identified the five as Muhammad Siddique, Sher Afzal, Fayaz Ahmed, Ghulam Rasool and Sarfaraz Ahmed.
“The next day, top army and police officers, including the general officer commanding the 28 Infantry Division, Major General Girish Kalia, addressed a news conference in Kupwara where they gave details about the purported gunfight.”—KMS
