People raising questions on every encounter: Omar Abdullah

Three days ahead of prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has done some plain speaking on "encounter" killings by security forces and said people were raising question marks on almost every encounter.

A visibly unhappy Abdullah was speaking against the backdrop of the huge controversy surrounding the killing of three youths by the army recently in the Machhil sector along the Line of Control (LoC). The army had claimed they were Pakistani terrorists.

Subsequent investigations have revealed they were three local residents who were allegedly lured to the border areas and shot dead in an alleged encounter. Relatives alleged that the victims were youths missing since April 27 and lodged complaints with authorities.

"Obviously there will be serious repercussions and doubts will emerge. J&K police is flooded with such complaints and enquiries about encounters are now going back more than five-six years and in some case even eight years," Abdullah told Left, Right and Centre programme on NDTV.

Asked whether there was still a question mark over some other encounters and that is why he was saying that those will have to be verified, Abdullah said, "I am saying that almost every encounter, unfortunately, that has taken place now has
question marks being posed by people and it is our duty to address those questions."

"We have dug up bodies and verified whether these encounters are genuine or not. This has really put a lot of additional work on the already burdened police force because a whole host of questions are being asked about these encounters," he said.

The prime minister is scheduled to undertake a two-day visit to Kashmir valley from June 7 during which he is expected to renew the offer for talks with separatists and review the progress on the Round Table peace initiative.

Ahead of his visit, Singh told a national press conference on May 24 that he is ready to hold dialaogue with all groups in Jammu and Kashmir which are outside the political mainstream provided they shun violence.

Abdullah said that Singh will be going with a comprehensive agenda of development and progress. "I am sure there will be a political element built into his agenda as well."

Elaborating on questions being asked about "encounter" killings, Abdullah said "Obviously there would be doubts. This is the problem when a handful of people for their short-term gains are willing to sacrifice the long-term interests of not only forces they represent but that of everybody else."

The army had on April 30 said they had killed three unidentified infiltrators in Machhil sector along the LoC. Following complaints from relatives of the victims, a territorial army  jawan and two others were arrested.

Abdullah said every complaint that has been made to the police after the Machhil encounter, they have looked into it and  "have satisfied the complainants that whatever deaths have so far taken place other than the Machhil one have been the result of genuine encounters".