Dozens wounded in protests over fake encounter in Kashmir

Sumbal, north Kashmir, Feb 1 (UNI) Scores of people were wounded as police opened baton charge and fired teargas shells to disperse hundreds of protestors gathered near the grave of Abdul Rehman Padder, who was allegedly killed in a fake encounter.

As the news of the exhumation of the body of Padder, a carpenter, spread in Bathpora village of Sumbal area, about 40 km from Srinagar, hundreds of locals gathered near the grave to protest the killing. They demanded that the killers be brought to justice.

The angry protestors shouted slogans against the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir police and the state administration as well.

However, some of them were even heard shouting slogans in favour of the police for taking a significant initiative to investigate the matter on its own.

Slogans of ''kaatilon ko saza do (punish the killers). Down with SOG and state government...Disband the SOG and the Special Task Force'' rented the air.

As the protestors began to move toward the grave, police tried to stop them, triggering clashes.

Dozens of protestors and police personnel were injured in the clashes. Police later resorted to baton charge and burst teargas shells to disperse the angry villagers who responded with pelting stones on them.

A wall of the graveyard also gave way as several protestors tried to climb on it.

Padder, a resident of Larnoo in Kokernag area of Anantnag district in south Kashmir, had gone missing from Batamaloo here on December 8, 2006. A missing report was lodged with the Batamaloo police station by his family on January 23 this year.

Padder, 35, was later allegedly killed by the SOG in a fake encounter at Waskar in Ganderbal and dubbed as a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant, Abu Hafiz, a resident of Multan in Pakistan.

An AK-47 rifle, three magazines, 36 rounds of ammunition and a grenade were also claimed to have been seized from his possession.

The SOG men were reportedly awarded Rs 1,20,000 for killing him.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has ordered a judicial probe into the killing which has rocked the state Assembly for the past few days.

The state government has already attached Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ganderbal Hans Raj Parihar and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP-Operations) Ganderbal Bahadur Ram to ensure unbiased and fair investigations in the case.

ASI Farooq Ahmed Gudoo and selection grade constable (driver) Farooq Ahmed Padder, posted in the District Police Lines Srinagar, have also been arrested in this connection.

Padder is survived by his wife Muneera, five small children, including four daughters and an aged father.

UNI