Alleged terrorists killed in encounter
In a joint encounter carried out by the police and the army three terrorists were shot dead in the outskirts of Srinagar, said the Jammu Kashmir (J&K) police in a statement and added further that all the three were terrorists but were not listed as terrorists in the police records. The J&K police said “Although the three killed terrorist in an encounter were not mentioned in our list of terrorist, yet two of them are hardcore associates of terrorists (OGW’s).” The term OGW or over-ground-worker is used by the J&K police for anyone they feel has links with the terrorist in the J&K region.
On the other hand the families of the killed militants claim that ‘innocent’ young people were killed in a staged encounter and were passed off as terrorists including a police officer’s son. The militants killed in the encounter are identified as Ajaz Maqbool Ganie, Ather Mushtaq from Pulwama and Zubair Lone of Sophain. According to the relatives of the Ajaz Maqbool Gaine he is the son of a head constable who is posted in the district of Ganderbal. One of the terrorists who was killed was a relative of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Rayees Kachroo who was killed in 2017.
The police said that they recovered an assault rifle and two pistols after the Wednesday encounter and denied the allegation made by the families of the killed terrorists adding that the families are not aware of the activities of their children. The families say that just the day before the encounter the men left home and protested outside the police control room in Srinagar and out of the three two were students who had travelled to Srinagar for admission in an institution. One of the killed terrorists was a student studying in 11th standard in school.
The J&K National Conference of Farooq Abdullah and the People’s Democratic Party of Mehbooba Mufti have now demanded an investigation.
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