1100 people missing; scores of unclaimed graves in J

Srinagar, Jan 31 (UNI) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti today said about 1100 people have gone missing in Jammu and Kashmir since the outbreak of militancy and also demanded a judicial commission to probe all the alleged fake encounters in the state.

''According to official records, the whereabouts of about 1100 people, who have gone missing during militancy, are not known. There are scores of unclaimed and unnamed graves in various parts of the state and the people have the right to know who are lying buried there,'' she said in a statement here.

To fix the responsibility for all such criminal acts and the killing of innocent people for petty gains during the turmoil, the PDP chief demanded setting up of a Judicial Commission, headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge, to probe all the complaints of alleged fake encounters in the state.

Soon on her arrival here from New Delhi this morning, Ms Mufti straightway drove to Larnoo in Kokernag area and visited the family of Abdul Rehman Padder, who had gone missing on December 8 last year from Batamaloo and was allegedly killed by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the police in a fake encounter in Ganderbal area dubbing him a Pakistani militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

She said her party has taken a very serious note of the killing of Padder allegedly in a fake encounter by the SOG to claim promotions and rewards and demanded immediate arrest of the police officers involved in this ''brazen act of terror''.

Ms Mufti asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to take stern action against the police officers involved in the gruesome murder of the carpenter so that nobody from the state machinery dares to play with the lives of the innocents people in future.

The PDP president said her party has all along vehemently raised its voice against the human rights violations and would never allow anybody to take the law for a ride.

''Such unfortunate and tragic incidents cannot only be a great setback to the ongoing peace and reconciliation process, but also go against the spirit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurance of zero tolerance toward the custodial killings,'' she added.

Ms Mufti said the elements resorting to such inhuman acts were the enemies of peace and out to sabotage the reconciliatory process as they have developed a vested interest in the violence.

The government must act with an iron fist against the accused to restore public faith in the system, she added.

In the past, the PDP chief said a similar brutal act was stage-managed at Pathribal where five innocent civilians were killed in a fake encounter to claim credit.

Expressing sympathies with Padder's family, Ms Mufti assured them that her party would ensure that the culprits responsible for the murder were brought to justice.

UNI