In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Concerned Citizens Group (CCG) has expressed concern over the civilian killings in the Hyderpora staged encounter and sought a judicial inquiry to uncover the truth.
The CCG, led by former Indian minister, Yashwant Sinha in a statement issued in Srinagar said, the authorities’ decision to order a magisterial enquiry is nothing more than eyewash.
It said, the magisterial enquiry should immediately be replaced by a judicial enquiry to uncover the truth and restore people’s confidence in the rule of law.
“We also demand that the inquiry should be completed expeditiously. In the meanwhile, those guilty of perpetrating it should be placed under sus-pension.
We appeal to Members of Parliament to visit J-K as soon as possible and raise this issue in the ensuing session of Parliament”, it added.
The statement said in its nine reports prepared after visits to Kashmir since 2016, the group has been emphasising the need for a political and not a military solution to the Kashmir, as indeed many others, including military commanders, familiar with the situation have been doing.
“We have also emphasised that a political solu-tion can come only out of a dialogue with all stake-holders. But our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
The government of India has tried everything from an extended governor’s rule to constitutional changes but nothing has worked for the simple reason that the people of J-K have not been taken into confi-dence,” it said.
The killings of civilians have demonstrated that the situation on the ground is far from normal as claimed by the authorities from time to time, the statement said. Incidents, such as the killing of in-nocent civilians, are bound to exacerbate it further, it added.
The group also condemned the statement of Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat endorsing the demand for the public lynching of militants.
It shows that Gen Rawat has no use for the laws of the country and believes only in jungle raj. He must immediately withdraw this statement and apologise for it, the CCG maintained.—KMS
