Srinagar:Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Member of Parliament from Anantnag Hasnain Masoodi on Saturday welcomed the Army report which says powers under AFSPA have been misused during the Amshipura, Shopian fake encounter, seeking exemplary punishment to those involved in the heinous crime.
While welcoming the findings of the inquiry conducted by Army he said that fake encounters are cold-blooded murders and averse to the constitution which unequivocally states that no person would be deprived of his life or personal liberty except in accordance with the procedure established by law.
Contradicting rule of law and required SOPs, the fake encounters are arbitrary actions which unfortunately aren’t new to Kashmir, Masoodi said while seeking inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of a boy in Sopore and a woman at Batamaloo during the past one week.
“On one hand GoI is making tall claims on zero tolerance for human rights violations, and on the other hand there seems impunity for such extra judicial civilian killings on ground in Kashmir. In the past too, these extra judicial killings have been a regular feature in Kashmir. Such killings are mostly not taken to account and guilty, not punished under the guise of national security. The Supreme Court in its landmark judgment of 2016 spoke about the illegality of such extra judicial killings. Despite the judicial involvement, there has been slow progress on the issue of ensuring that such incidents do not take place,” he said.
“Our party raised the issue of extra judicial and arbitrary killings on every forum. We raised it in the media, in Lok Sabha and at various other public forums seeking time bound inquiry into the excesses. We also hope that inquiries will be expedited in the case of mysterious killings of the Sopore man and Batamaloo woman,” he added.

KR Desk