Separatists break silence on Pattan mysterious killings, call for shutdown

Hizb claims slain youths as its cadres, blames Police for their 'custodial killing' 

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Sep 15: Breaking their silence on the assassination of three suspected militants in Pattan area of Baramulla district on the day after, formidable militant group Hizbul Mujahideen and the Valley’s separatist leaders have blamed Police for the "custodial killings" and called for a State-wide protest shutdown on Wednesday.

Among the separatists, Chairman of Hurriyat Conference's moderate faction Mirwaiz Umar Farooq alone had condemned the brutal killing of the three teenagers on Monday. Others, particularly Hizbul Mujahideen and hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani had maintained sustained silence, raising speculations and buttressing the Police version that the slain youths were members of the Hizbul Mujahideen rebel Qayyum Najar's group killed by Hizbul Mujahideen. None of the militant or political groups, except Mirwaiz, had condemned the triple murder or called for a protest shutdown.

However, almost all these groups on Tuesday broke their silence, paid tributes to the slain youths and called for a protest shutdown on Wednesday. One more body surfaced in Kunzar area of Tangmarg today but residents as well as officials asserted that the deceased was a mentally challenged civilian.

Hizb spokesman Saleem Hashmi said on behalf of the organisation's supremo Syed Salah-ud-din in a statement: "Amir Reshi, Ashiq Ahmad and Naveed were activists of Hizbul Mujahideen and they had joined our organisational ranks recently". He added: "The trio were active members of the (Hizbul Mujahideen) outfit and were killed in custody".

According to the handout, Salah-ud-din disputed the Police version and claimed that the slain youths did not belong to Lashkar-e-Islam. He claimed that no such guerrilla organisation existed in Jammu and Kashmir.

Terming the Pattan killings as "brutal and barbaric", Geelani called for “Kashmir Band” on Wednesday. He said that even if nothing was clearly known about these killings "but on seeing the circumstances and the ways of the killing, we cannot rule out the hands of the government forces into the incident". 

Geelani termed the police statement as "a presumption based on guess, in which they had tried to link this incident to the rivalries within the Mujahideens". 

"He said that all the Muhajid organizations had condemned this incident and they have also termed it as unjust murder and custodial killings so that this incident can’t be blamed on any one without any proof. Geelani Sahab said that there can be small differences and arguments between the Muhajideen but they cannot go to this extent and they can’t be so brutal. These types of actions are the trademark of the occupational forces of India who have murdered ten thousand Kashmiris youths in their custodies so far and have subjected 10 thousand others to the custodial disappearance", the statement said.

"Geelani Sahab further said that it is our permanent stand that respect to the human life is the priority and an innocent human killing is equal to the murder of the whole humanity and saving the life of any human being is equal to saving the whole humanity. Hurriyat Chairman said that whatever the motives and reasons would have been behind the brutal killing of four youths in Pattan areas, but these types of incidents occur due to the forced occupation of India in Kashmir. The state of Jammu & Kashmir is suffering from political uncertainty and instability due to the Indian occupation and the loss of precious human lives is unabated here", it added.

Similar statement paying tributes to the slain militants and holding the Police responsible for their "custodial killing", was issued by Dukhtaraan-e-Millat Chairperson Asiya Andrabi.

Geelani’s shutdown call was seconded by Hizbul Mujahideen, Hurriyat's Mirwaiz faction, prominent separatist leader Shabir Shah and JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik.

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