Kashmir records fourth civilian death in 48 hours

SRINAGAR: A former sarpanch was found dead with visible wounds on Monday in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, said officials, taking the toll of civilian deaths in the region to four since Saturday.

A police spokesperson said Shabir Ahmad Wani, a native of Wakilbalan Shangas in Achabal area of the district, had “minor injuries on his forehead and below his eye”.

“To ascertain the cause and circumstances of his death, Achabal police has initiated proceeding under U/S 174 CRPC,” the spokesperson added.

Sources said Wani was a worker of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

While the rumours spread that Wani was “killed by unknown gunmen”, police clarified that “no firearm injury was visible on his body and neither was there any sign of torture”.

“Prima facie it seems that Wani died due to accidental fall,” they added.

On Sunday, Hilal Ahmed Malik, an owner of a cable network, and college student Gowhar Ahmad Dar (16) were killed by suspected militants in south Kashmir’s Shopian district in separate incidents, while on Saturday evening another PDP worker Mohammad Ishaq Parray (40) was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in Anantnag.

Late on Sunday, police said that the militants behind the killing cable network owner have been identified.

“The terrorists involved in the attack on cable network owner

WHILE THE RUMOURS SPREAD THAT WANI WAS ‘KILLED BY UNKNOWN GUNMEN’, POLICE CLARIFIED THAT ‘NO FIREARM INJURY WAS VISIBLE ON HIS BOD’Y

are Zubair Ahmad Turray, son of Bashir Ahmad Turray, a resident of Bonbazar in Shopian and Umar Nazir Malik alias Khattab, son of Nazir Ahmad Malik, a resident of Malikgund in Shopian.

Police have launched a massive manhunt to nab the perpetrators and will bring them to justice soon,” a police spokesperson said. Meanwhile, hundreds of people participated in the funeral of Malik in Shopian on Monday.

Police also claimed to have cracked the killing of Dar.

“On the basis of reliable inputs, Shopian police has identified two LeT terrorists Waseem Shah, a resident of Heff, and Nazim Dar, a resident of Urpora, and a manhunt has been launched to nab them,” said police.

Militant outfit Hizbul Mujahedeen, however, accused the Indian agencies of killing Dar. Burhanuddin, the spokesperson of Hizbul Mujahedeen operations, told local news agency CNS that the “outfit is grieved over the death of Dar and wants to clarify that it had no role whatsoever in his killing”.

Meanwhile, chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti described the killings of Malik and Dar as unfortunate, inhuman and dastardly.