As some opposition leaders tried to kick up a controversy on Wednesday’s killing of three terrorists in an encounter in Srinagar, the Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Thursday ruled out the allegations of fake encounter and said generally parents don’t have idea about the activities of their wards. Several OGWs (overground workers) after committing terror crimes like grenade throwing and shooting, among others, stay normally with their family.
He said that the matter will be probed but he has no reason to dispute the statement of the Army commander Major General HS Sahi who had said there were intelligence inputs of terrorists planning to target the strategic Srinagar–Baramulla highway.
Referring to the earlier claim that the killed terrorists were not listed in the police records, the DGP said that they might have joined terror ranks recently.
The police had in a statement on Wednesday evening said; “Though the three killed terrorists were not mentioned in our list of terrorists, yet two of them are hardcore associates of terrorists (OGWs)”. Of the two, one was a relative of top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Rayees Kachroo, who was killed in 2017.
The spokesman said police is investigating the case and after a “thorough probe, will come to a conclusion on merits”.
The three terrorists were killed in an overnight encounter in the Parimpora area of Srinagar.
Parents of the killed terrorists protested outside the police control room and claimed their wards were innocent.
In a series of tweets, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said; “Worrying that in the past few months after the Shopian fake encounter other families too in J&K have alleged that their sons were innocent & killed in a staged encounter. Authorities need to come clean on this”.
CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami sought “judicial probe as the families of the slain persons have refuted the allegations of the security forces that they were militants. There are unverified reports that they were killed in a fake encounter. If true, this is shocking and must be probed by a sitting High Court judge”.
A police officer said that several instances of parents being unaware of their ward’s connections with terrorists have come to light. A student from Pulwama who was taking coaching in Srinagar was caught for lobbying a grenade with the help of CCTV’s footage. The three terrorists killed in the encounter were given ample opportunity to surrender on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning but they didn’t surrender and instead fired and lobbed grenades at security forces.
IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, has requested the parents to keep close watch of their wards and keep strict vigil about their day to day activities to ensure that they may not indulge in any subversive or terrorist activities.