Police in Kashmir probe claims of staged army gun battle

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir are investigating allegations from relatives that three men were killed by the military in a staged gun battle

A Kashmiri man walks in a narrow alley during lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus in downtown Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. AP

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir said on Tuesday that they are investigating allegations from three families who say their relatives were killed by the military in a staged gun battle and buried as unidentified militants.

Police are taking “all necessary steps to ascertain facts” in the case, said Amritpal Singh, the police chief in Shopian district, where the Indian army said the gun battle took place on July 18.

The three young men – aged 18, 21 and 25 years – are cousins who their families say had gone to Shopian to work as labourers. They were last heard from on July 17.

On Sunday, the families said they were shown photographs that circulated on social media of three bodies that, according to the Indian army, were “unidentified terrorists” killed during the Shopian gun battle.

They recognised the bodies as their missing relatives and filed a report with the police.

“They had not even a remote connection with militancy,” said Mohammed Yousuf, the father of one the men.

He said his son last spoke to his wife on July 17 and from the next day the mobile phones of all three cousins were switched off.

He called for “a probe, verification of their call records and background checks” to prove their innocence.

A police statement on July 18 said soldiers killed three unidentified militants during a counterinsurgency operation in Shopian and buried their bodies in a remote graveyard.

An Indian army spokesman, Col Rajesh Kalia, said in a statement late Monday that “the three terrorists killed during the operation have not been identified and the bodies were buried based on established protocols.” He said the army had “noted social media inputs linked to the operation at Shopian” and was investigating the matter.

The incident could further ratchet up anger in the disputed region.

In 2010, a massive uprising erupted in Kashmir after a police investigation found Indian soldiers had killed three civilians in a staged gun battle and then said the victims were militants in order to claim a reward. The army responded by suspending two officers.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. Rebel groups have fought since 1989 in Indian-held Kashmir and demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.