Two arrested for involvement in fake gun battle in Kashmir

SRINAGAR - Two people have been arrested for the disappearance of three men in the Kashmir Valley who were allegedly killed in a fake gun battle near the border with Pakistan.

An officer said Bashir Ahmad, a former special police officer, and his accomplice Fayaz Ahmad were arrested for the disappearance last month of Shahzad Ahmad, Riyaz Ahmad and Muhammad Shafi from Nadihal village in Sopore district.

Locals and relatives of the three have alleged that the pair abducted them from their homes April 29.

A magisterial probe has been ordered by the government to ascertain the fate of the three after it was alleged that they were murdered in a staged shootout in Machil sector of the Line of Control (LoC) the next day.

The LoC divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Ghulam Muhammad Khan, father of Shahzad, has identified the photograph of one of the three slain people as that of his son.

“They killed my son for medals and rewards. My son had no connection with militants,” Khan moaned before reporters late Thursday.

Javaid Ahmad Dar, the state’s junior minister for health and legislator from north Kashmir’s Rafiabad constituency, said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had taken a serious note of the development.

“The guilty would be given exemplary punishment if the allegations are proved right,” Dar told IANS.

Dar also said arrangements for the exhumation of the bodies of the three men buried in Kalaroos village after the alleged gun battle would take place Friday.

A huge contingent of police has cordoned off the graveyard where the exhumation is to take place.