Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday questioned the official version that arms and ammunition were recovered from the Shopian encounter site in July after the DNA tests on Friday proved that the three slain men were labourers from Rajouri district of the union territory.
According to this official version, ‘incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter’. So who planted this ‘incriminating material’? Omar said in a tweet.
He was reacting to Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar’s statement that the DNA match of the three slain men, who were dubbed as militants by the Army, has come positive with those persons who had claimed them to be their kin.
These young men were buried somewhere in North Kashmir. It is imperative that the bodies be exhumed & handed over to the families immediately so that a proper burial can take place near their homes in Rojouri district, Omar, who is also the National Conference vice president, said.
On July 18, the Army had claimed three militants were killed in Amshipura village in the higher reaches of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
It initiated an inquiry after social media reports indicated that the three men were from Rajouri and had gone missing in Amshipura.
The families of the three men had claimed they worked as labourers in Shopian and lodged a police complaint.
The police also launched an investigation and collected the DNA samples of the three families from Rajouri to match with the slain men.
“The DNA report has come and matching has taken place,” Kumar told reporters here on Friday.