Srinagar: The J&K Police on Friday said that DNA samples of the three alleged militants killed in Shopian district on July 18 by the army had matched with those of their family members in Rajouri, making the families’ case stronger that the slain were not militants but labourers.
Three weeks after the trio was killed in Shopian, the Rajouri families had come forward to report that they had identified the slain youths from photos as their kin, who had gone to Shooian to work as labourers. This claim was corroborated by locals in Shopian as well.
The families in Rajouri identified the dead as their relatives — Ibrar Ahmed (16), Imtiyaz Ahmed (25) and Ibrar Ahmed (20). The families had also filed a missing persons’ report in Rajouri.
This was against the J&K Police’s version that the Shopian encounter was the result of an operation based on “specific input by 62RR (Rashtriya Rifles) about the presence of terrorists in the village Amshipora area of district Shopian.” The slain youths were also buried secretly at a graveyard in Baramulla.
“The samples have matched with those collected from those killed in the Amshipora encounter in Shopian. We will take further course of action and complete the remaining formalities,” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar told reporters on Friday.
With this new revelation, further questions about the encounter, such as where did the weapons which were said to be with the killed youths came from, have been raised.
A week ago, the army had said that prima facie evidence had indicated that during the operation, powers vested under AFSPA 1990 were exceeded and the dos and don’ts of Chief of Army Staff as approved by the Supreme Court had been contravened.
“Consequently, the competent disciplinary authority has directed to initiate disciplinary proceedings under the Army Act against those found prima-facie answerable,” the army said.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz