A Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HM) district commander was killed in an encounter with the security forces in the Pombai area of Kulgam district in Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said on Thursday, even as Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the Hyderpora encounter.
Quoting IGP Kashmir, the Kashmir Zone Police tweeted, “Top terrorist and HM’s district commander Shakir Nazar who was active since 2018 killed along with two other terrorists. A big success.” Earlier on Wednesday, the Resistance Front (TRF) commander was killed among five terrorists in twin encounters with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district said Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Two of them killed in Pombai were identified as Shakir Najar, Deputy District Commander of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and Sumair Najar affiliated with a proscribed terror outfit HM and TRF respectively.
In Gopalpora area, two terrorists were killed and their bodies were recovered from the site of the encounter. They have been identified as Aafaq Sikander Lone, District commander of TRF, and Irfan Mushtaq Lone. The police also recovered one AK-47 rifle and one pistol.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the Hyderpora encounter. “A magisterial inquiry by an officer of ADM rank has been ordered in Hyderpora encounter. The government will take suitable action as soon as the report is submitted in a time-bound manner. Jammu and Kashmir administration reiterates the commitment of protecting lives of innocent civilians and it will ensure there is no injustice,” tweeted the Office of Lieutenant Governor. An encounter between security forces and terrorists had broken out in the Hyderpora area of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on 15 November after input was received by police regarding the presence of terrorists in an illegal call centre in a private building in the area. The Jammu and Kashmir Police said that two terrorists identified as Haider, a foreign Pakistani terrorist and his associate Amir Ahmad resident of Banihal (a hybrid terrorist), were killed in the encounter. It said the owner of the building, Altaf Ahmad, as well as tenant, Mudasir Ahmad, were also called to accompany the search party. However, in the encounter with terrorists, both received critical gunshot injuries and succumbed to their injuries.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday staged a protest in Srinagar and demanded the bodies of two civilians killed in Hyderpora encounter to be returned to the families for their last rites. Speaking to the media, Abdullah said, “I have to stage this protest to express my anger and helplessness.” “We are demanding the bodies of those civilians who were killed in the Hyderpora encounter and have not been returned to their families for the last rites,” he said. “I don’t remember when did I protest like this before, but this situation compelled me to sit in for a demonstration,” Abdullah said.
The National Conference leader said: “I don’t care about inquiries or punishments. I don’t have any other option except to raise my voice for these families,” he added. “Jammu and Kashmir police has also accepted that the civilians were killed in cross-firing. I just want the bodies of civilians to be returned,” he said.
Abdullah said today families were called before SP and control room in hopes of receiving the mortal remains, but they were told to come back after two to three days.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into the Hyderpora encounter. “I demand a judicial inquiry into the Hyderpora encounter to find out how and why people were killed. It is a case of police and not of Army. There should be a judicial inquiry under a High Court judge,” the Congress leader told reporters on the sidelines of a public rally held in Kathua today.
“While I respect the police, and I have been a great admirer of the Army and security forces, but at the same time, we should ensure that such things do not happen, that too in Srinagar city. If such thing takes place in the capital then people will raise eyebrows on what must be happening in the hinterland,” he added.