FIR filed after father, kin of slain youth hold protest

Jammu and Kashmir police have filed an FIR after Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, father of the teenager Athar Mushtaq who was killed along with two other youth in a controversial encounter with security forces on December 30, and some other relatives held a protest in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

Wani and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the FIR was lodged because the family held a protest demanding the body of his slain son, which is buried in Ganderbal. Police said there was an ‘unlawful assembly’. Wani said he, along with some of his relatives, had assembled in the courtyard of Jamia Masjid in Pulwama after Friday prayers on February 5 to demand the body of his son. “Yesterday, the police called some of the elders of the village to inform them that my relatives and I have been named in an FIR. We did not move out but assembled in the courtyard of Jamia Masjid, demanding the body of my son,” said Wani.

After losing his son in an alleged fake encounter, Athar Mushtaq’s father has been slapped with an FIR for demanding the body. His crime was that he staged a peaceful protest. MEHBOOBA MUFTI,

PDP chief

Cops remain tight-lipped

The police, meanwhile, said that it was an unlawful assembly.

“There is an FIR against an unlawful assembly at Below (Pulwama) on February 05, 2021,” said SP Pulwama, Ashish Kumar in a text message. He did not receive calls despite repeated attempts and also did not answer a message as to whether the FIR was registered against Wani for staging a protest to demand his son’s body. Deputy inspector general of Police, South Kashmir, Atul Kumar Goel refused to comment on the issue and instead asked this reporter to talk to the SP concerned.

J&K’s former CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the FIR was registered because Wani was demanding the body of his slain son. “After losing his son in an alleged fake encounter, Athar Mushtaq’s father has been slapped with an FIR for demanding the dead body. His crime was to stage a peaceful protest. The inhabitants of Naya Kashmir can’t even question a callous admin,” she said in a tweet.

Wani, along with two other families, has held multiple protests, questioning the December 30 encounter by security forces in which three youth were killed. While the army and police have said they were militants and militant associates, the youths’ families have vouched for their innocence.