Among the four civilian dead in Kashmir, families are demanding bodies Conflict News

Srinagar, India administered by Kashmir – A day after Indian armed forces said two suspected rebels and their “friends” had been killed in a Kashmir-administered Indian shooting, the families of the three dead men say it was a “cold-blooded killing of innocent civilians”. and they are demanding that their bodies be returned.

Police say the shooting in Hyderpora municipality in the region’s main city of Srinagar began on Monday evening after police received a warning about the presence of rebels in a shopping center.

The fight, which lasted for long hours, said police killed two rebels and claimed two others: businessman Altaf Ahmad Bhat, 48, who owns the mall, and Mudasir Gul, 40, who was also a dental surgeon working on real estate. they died in a crossfire.

Vijay Kumar, the chief inspector of police in the conflict region, told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that he had called two civilians to find rooms where the alleged rebels were hiding. The two men “knocked on the door but the militants did not respond.”

“After a while, they hit again and this time the militants opened the door and fired a gun. Our people also fired for self-defense, ”Kumar said, adding that one of the two“ terrorists ”killed in the shootings was a local named Amir Magray and another unidentified citizen of Pakistan.

Kumar said he had a cement shop in the Bhat shopping center and rented three rooms to Gul.

“Mudasir [Gul] where he was running an unauthorized call center. He was a supreme member of the terrorist. The terrorists used the Altaf building and we can also count it as a case to protect the militants, ”he said.

But the families of at least three of the dead and witnesses to the killings dismissed police claims and accused the civilians of using them as “human shields” in the shooting.

A witness, who did not want to be named, said he saw Gul and Bhat “used by Indian forces as a human shield in a search operation on the building.”

“The police gathered us all in one place and removed our mobiles. They took Bhat three times. Although he was allowed to return twice, he did not return in the third. Gul was also carried away by the forces. Then, for a while, we heard gunshots, ”he said.

“We won’t eat until we get Dad’s body”

At Bhat’s home in Srinagar’s local Barzulla, his two daughters – Noha, 15, and Naifa, 13 – are upset. Their brother Ibaad, seven, is too young to understand the loss.

“In the morning, my father left me for teaching classes. At 4pm, I called and asked her to buy cakes. He would usually return home by 6 p.m. But when I called him again, he didn’t take it. Soon, the phone went off, ”Noha told Al Jazeera.

The families of the dead civilians say they were used by Indian troops as human shields in battle. [Mukhtar Khan/AP Photo]

Indian authorities refused to hand over the bodies to their families and buried them in a cemetery in the Kupwara district on the Pakistani border.

According to a new government policy, alleged Kashmir rebels killed in shootings by security forces are buried in remote cemeteries to prevent large gatherings or mass protests at their funerals. In some cases, authorities have also refused to hand over the bodies of allegedly dead civilians.

“We just want to give our father a decent burial. We want his grave to be near our home. We are not even demanding justice, ”Noha said.

Their family said the two sisters have not eaten anything since their father was killed on Monday.

“We will not eat until we give our father’s body,” Naifa told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

“When we protested and asked a policeman,‘ Uncle, give me my father’s body, ’he laughed shamelessly. I froze and didn’t know how to respond. How could they kill our father, and bury him so far from us?

Gulen’s family staged a protest in Srinagar on Tuesday and demanded the return of his body.

“She came home in the morning and took sweets and biscuits for her two sons, ages seven and 10. The children were happy to see their Baba. [father]. Now, they have been killed and also accused of militant ties. This is zulm [injustice]”Said one of the relatives who did not want to be identified.

“Why did they kill him? He was educated, a doctor, and he worked in the office. Why did they do this to him? ”

The 22-year-old Magray’s family, the third person killed in Monday’s shooting, said police said he was a rebel, said he was innocent and did a small job in Srinagar. The family said they would not protest until the body was handed over to them.

Family members mourn the death of Altaf Ahmad Bhat, owner of a shopping center in Srinagar [Mukhtar Khan/AP Photo]

“Using Innocent Civilians as Human Shields”

In the disputed region claimed by India and Pakistan, 49 people, including 15 civilians, 24 suspected insurgents and 10 soldiers, have been killed in nearly a dozen shootings in the past month.

In the last two years, there have been at least three shootings in the region, and families have been accused by security forces of killing their relatives in “stage fights”.

Former regional prime minister Mehbooba Mufti called the killings part of New Delhi’s “new rule book.”

“Using innocent civilians as human shields, killing them in crossfire and then labeling them as OGW. [overground workers] It is now part of the Indian government’s rule book. It is essential to conduct a credible judicial investigation to uncover the truth and end this broad culture of impunity, ”he said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Omar Abdullah, another former prime minister, called for an investigation into the killings.

“There have been many cases of fake encounters in the past and questions about the Hyderpora encounter need to be answered quickly and in a compelling way,” he tweeted.

Rights activist Parvez Imroz said the killings were “the case of civilians used as human shields.”

“Forces are increasingly shameless human rights violations. They have not only legal impunity, but also moral and political impunity, which is more dangerous, ”he told Al Jazeera, adding that the denial of deaths to families in recent rites is a“ grave violation of international human rights law ”.