Srinagar: Mainstream political parties on Thursday joined the demand for the return of bodies of two civilians-Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Dr Mudasir Gul- who were killed during an encounter at Hyderpora earlier this week.
National Conference, Peoples Conference and Peoples Democratic Party asked the government to return the bodies of the killed to their families so that they can perform their last rites.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and vice president National Conference Omar Abdullah led a protest from his Gupkar residence in the nearby park along with his senior party leaders. Omar clad in Pheran and a maroon cap sat down on the ground along his senior leaders Ali Muhammad Sagar, Nasir Sogami, and sitting MP Hussnain Masoodi.
“I have not come here for anything but to join my voice with the voices of families who are demanding the dead bodies. This should be done as the families have assured that there will be no law and order problem,” said Omar while talking to media persons during the protest. “We are sitting here peacefully. If we wanted, we would have blocked roads, bridges, but no. There has been no sloganeering, no law and order disturbance and no road has been blocked. We are not raising a voice against the government, we just demand that the bodies be returned.”
Omar came on the streets after a controversy had erupted over the encounter held on Monday in Srinagar following conflicting versions about the two deceased civilians. The 44-year-old businessman Altaf Bhat, and Mudasir Gul, a dentist-turned-businessman from Srinagar’s Rawalpora, were among the four killed in Monday’s encounter at Hyderpora. While police dubbed Gul as an ‘over ground worker’ (term for those who allegedly work for militants) and said Bhat was killed in ‘crossfire’, the families of the duo vehemently countered the police claim and asserted that both of them had no links with militants and were forcibly taken by the police to the encounter site. Families have been demanding their dead bodies. They even held a day-long protest at the press enclave until they were removed forcibly by police on Wednesday night. The police first said that the dead were OGWs, later brought a change in their statement, saying Altaf was killed in the crossfire.
“We heard this morning that the families were called to PCR and we were hopeful that after Farooq Abdullah talked to LG, there will be some development in it, so we waited. We kept waiting in our office from 11 am thinking that something would be done, but they (families) were told to wait for two to three days,” he said.
Around the same time, the Peoples Conference led by Sajad Gani Lone, staged a protest from Sangarmal Mall. The protest was led by its senior leader Khursheed Alam and Abdul Gani Vakil. The protest was however waylaid at its gates by the police.
“We have come here to demand justice from the prime minister of the country. The PM is the guardian of all the people living in the country. So as the PM he should hear the voice of a mother who has an 18 year old baby in her lap demanding return of the mortal remains of her husband,” he asked.
Vakil who also spoke to reporters said that the Hyderpora encounter was “amassed with doubts.”
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) head and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was kept under house arrest. Two PDP office bearers Suhail Bukhari and Najmu Saqib were detained by the police, the PDP tweeted.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz