Body of fake encounter victim exhumed in Kashmir

Srinagar, Jun 23 (UNI) Body of an alleged fake encounter victim Mohammad Ashraf Sheikh, labourer by profession, was today exhumed in north Kashmir, official sources said.

Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a partner in the coalition government, has demanded an impartial probe into the ''killing of Sheikh in a fake encounter.'' Official sources said Sheikh, a resident of Kokernag in south Kashmir, was allegedly killed by the security forces in a fake encounter and later buried at Bandipora in north Kashmir in the first week of June.

However, his family members had lodged a missing person report on June 3.

The body was exhumed and will be taken for identification, the sources said, adding it would then be handed over to his relatives.

The PDP general secretary Nizam-u-Din Bhat and political secretary Peerzada Mansoor Hussain have demanded an impartial probe into the killing of Sheikh.

The PDP leaders in a statement here said that such incidents were not acceptable in any civilized society.

The leaders have demanded that until an impartial probe was conducted, the victims family should be given ex gratia relief and benefits under SRO-43.

UNI BAS QAB RR AS1612