AMNESTY FOR PROBE INTO SHOPIAN KILLINGS

Amnesty International (AI) on Wednesday called for investigation and prosecution into the alleged extrajudicial execution of three labourers by the Army troops in Shopian district by independent civilian authorities, saying civilian investigations and trials “offer a degree of transparency and independence that is missing from the military justice system”.

The human rights watchdog was reacting to the Indian Army’s statement that it has launched an inquiry into the reports that three labourers Imtiaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed Khan and Abrar Yusuf from frontier Rajouri district were killed in a fake encounter by the troops in Shopian on July

18, a day after the trio had arrived in the area to work in an apple orchard to earn their livelihood.

While the Army said on Monday that it is investigating the social media reports linking to the encounter, the local police on Tuesday said that taking the cognizance of the claim by the families and media reports, it “will examine the claimants and carry out DNA sampling for matching purpose besides identification.”

The police authorities said that the families of the three youth filed a complaint with Rajouri’s Peeri police station on August 10, saying that their kin had gone to Shopian for labour work but they lost contact with them after they had made last phone calls to them after reaching Shopian on July

17. “Meanwhile social media reported that the terrorists killed in an operation at Shopian on July 18 are reportedly their kin,” the police said in a statement here.