Srinagar ‘gunfight’: J&K DGP upholds army’s version, rebuts claims by slain trio’s families
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police (DGP), Dilbagh Singh Thursday upheld army’s claim that three militants were killed in Wednesday’s gunfight on Srinagar outskirts, but added that police will still investigate the claims by the families of the slain trio over their “innocence”.
“I have no reason to dispute what the GoC Kilo Force (H S Sahi) has stated about the Lawaypora encounter. The families of two slain youth claimed that their children had gone to submit forms at a University, I want to ask them what were their children doing at encounter site if they had gone to submit a form?” DGP Singh said in reply to a query during a press conference at Jammu today.
GoC Sahi while addressing the media yesterday had stated that the slain trio had plans to “carry out a big strike on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway” and that they “turned down repeated surrender offers”.
He said that “at times families, especially parents of the children are not aware about the activities of their wards”.
“We will still investigate allegations levelled by the families. If there is anything, we will probe that,” he said.
Asked families of slain trio had stated that their wards were students not militants and that police too admitted that slain trio were not listed as militants, the DGP said, “It is not important that every militant is listed with the police. When a person leaves his home to join, he doesn’t tell his parents.”
The three youth Aijaz Ahmed Ganai, Ather Mushtaq, and Zubair Ahmed all hailing from south Kashmir were killed in an encounter at Lawaypora, near Hokerser on Srinagar outskirts as claimed by police and army.
Soon after their killing, their families staged a protest outside Police Control Room (PCR) Srinagar stating that their wards “were not militants but students.” The families had urged J&K LG Manoj Sinha to probe the encounter at the highest level. (KNO)
