As J&K police said a ‘hybrid’ militant from south Kashmir’s Shopian district who was arrested a day before over the killing of two non-local labourers, was killed during an anti-militancy operation; political parties have demanded an impartial probe into his death.
In a statement on Wednesday, the J&K police said that Imran, a resident of Harmain, was “leading” a team of security forces to a militant hideout in Shopian at about 2:30 am.
“During the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired upon the joint search party, in which the arrested hybrid terrorist…got injured. He was shifted to hospital where he was declared brought dead,” the police statement said
However. the statement said that the militants who fired at Imran managed to escape “due to darkness.”
Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister of J&K said that the security situation has deteriorated in Kashmir and demanded an impartial probe into the Shopian killing.
“In the name of hybrid militancy, Imran Ganie was arrested and then we are told that he was killed by militants while in custody of police. If militants can kill in police custody, how are common people going to be safe,” she said.
“There are allegations that it is the ‘catch-and-kill’ policy which was followed in Punjab where youngsters would get killed in police custody. We demand an impartial probe into the circumstances that led to Imran’s death. We have fears that as the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh come closer, the atmosphere in Kashmir would be vitiated so that the BJP can exploit the Hindu-Muslim game it has been playing even more,” she added.
The National Conference’s Lok Sabha parliamentarian and former J&K high vourt judge, Hasnain Masoodi, said that the government must carry out an “independent and impartial probe” into the killing of Imran. “Civilian killings call for outright condemnation and cannot be condoned on any ground whatsoever,” he said in a tweet, referring to the killing of two migrant labourers in Shopian.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Ghulam Nabi Malik also demanded an investigation into the killing.
“It is widely perceived that the said person had not been involved in any unlawful activity,” he added.