Asks political leaders to submit evidence to probe panels

Jammu: Asserting that some people are engaged in “soft separatism” by cleverly supporting militancy, DGP Dilbag Singh on Friday termed Hyderpora operation “neat and clean” and asked political leaders questioning the clean chit given to the forces to submit evidence to investigation panels.
He said he felt hurt over irresponsible utterances of a section of political leaders in Kashmir, adding that counting votes on the dead bodies is their mission.
“We definitely felt hurt over this kind of utterances. It is irresponsible on the part of certain people, who are not part of the investigation and do not know anything about the probe on the ground to make such remarks,” Singh said at a press conference here.
He was replying to questions on the statements made by political leaders against the probe by the local police in connection with Hyderpora encounter.
A Pakistani militant and three locals were killed in Hyderpora on November 15 and the police had claimed that all the slain men had links to militancy. The families of the three, alleging foul play, had said they were innocent, prompting the police to order the inquiry.
Separately, a magisterial probe was also ordered by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha in the encounter which was one of the rare operations carried out jointly by the Army and Police within the city limits.
Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Central Kashmir Sujit Kumar had Wednesday threatened legal action against the political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir for making “speculative” statements about the investigation.
Singh made it clear that the operation was neat and clean and done in a professional manner.
“We have made it crystal clear that the operation was neat and clean. It was transparent , he said.
The top cop also said the utterances by the political leaders were in violation of law.
“We have made it clear that those utterances are somehow violative of law. May be at some stage, if people do not mend their ways, law will take its own course, he said.
He also asked those raking up the issue to present the evidence before the investigation panels.
“ if anybody has any evidence, he can present it before two panels of the magisterial inquiry and SIT, he said.
Asked if such people should be brought to book, Singh said if one looks at the cases registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is (UAPA), some of them have already been accounted for.
“We will definitely be looking for more evidence against the people, who in any way have supported militancy, ‘’ he said.
“These people are into soft separatism. We have taken action against some of them. We will be looking for more evidence. No one is above law,” the DGP added.
—PTI

Press Trust of India