‘Panel probing civilian deaths in Kashmir eyewash’

Separatists have ridiculed the all-parties resolution of setting up an independent inquiry panel to probe the death of 15 civilians and called it “eyewash” to hide the truth.

“The proposed inquiry commission is nothing but a publicity stunt and eyewash. No one in Kashmir is going to trust this commission because a government minister himself said that CRPF had gone out of control. In this backdrop, who will probe whom?” moderate Hurriyat Conference spokesman Syed Saleem Geelani said.

Hurriyat’s remarks came on the day when authorities foiled their proposed march to the martyrs’ graveyard at Naqshband Sahib by imposing undeclared curfew in the valley. IGP (Kashmir) Farooq Ahmad said everything passed off peacefully in Kashmir. “Curfew was clamped in Sopore as a precautionary measure. Some restrictions were imposed in Srinagar, Pulwama and Anantnag,” he said.

July 13 is commemorated as Martyrs Day in the valley. People pay respects to the 21 Kashmiris who were martyred by the Dogra forces in 1931 for revolting against the autocratic rulers. This day also marks the first major beginning of the Kashmiri freedom struggle led by chief minister Omar Abdullah’s grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.

Omar and father Farooq Abdullah went to Naqshband Sahib on Tuesday morning to pay their tributes. PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed also visited the graveyard to pay his tribute.

The separatists, however, were not allowed to enter. There was massive deployment of police and paramilitary forces to thwart any march by separatists. “We have been put under house arrest and our movement has been restricted... We are not being given a chance to pay our tributes,” Geelani said.