‘It was a cold blooded murder’
Refuting the claim made by the government that Kashmir youth killed in Kud shootout was a militant, the family of the slain youth Tuesday said that Tanvir Sultan was innocent who had never been affiliated with any militant organization.
“Yes, one of our brothers Gowhar was a Hizb militant who attained martyrdom in 2003 but Tanvir was not a militant. He was going to Amritsar for medical checkup but was silenced forever by the so-called security forces of India,” Arshid Sultan, the brother of the slain youth Tanvir Sultan told reporters at his Bemina residence.
Pertinently, Centre Reserve Police Force and Jammu Kashmir Police on Monday claimed that it jointly shot dead a militant at Kud when according to them Tanvir fired upon government forces at Kud Udhampur. On Tuesday, speaking on behalf of the state government Agriculture Minister Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjoora informed Lower House that a militant identified as Sheikh Tanvir Sultan was killed when he fired upon CRPF after they asked passengers to alight from the SRTC vehicle for frisking. The Minister said that a woman Mamta Devi was also killed in the shootout.
“The government is lying. My brother had suffered a serious fracture in his arm few months back while at picnic in Harwan. He had already been to Amritsar twice for medical checkup and it was his third turn but ‘killers’ killed him in cold blood,” Arshid said.
“Tanvir’s shoulder joint was dislocated and he was unable to move his arm. How is it possible for him to carry an AK-47 rifle with a defective and painful arm,” Arshid questioned but quickly added that it is not a big deal for government forces to show any sort of recovery (weapons) form any spot of incident.
Arshidsaid that Tanvir was suffering from ‘bipolar disorder’ (psychiatric disease) since 1997. “He had developed this disease when he was an engineering student though he had recuperated from it now to a great extent,” he said adding that Tanvir was carrying Rs 60,000 and he had also transferred some money into his account for his treatment in Amritsar.
“The house of every militant is being raided in Kashmir. Our house was never raided and police never visited our house after 2003 just because none of our family member was a militant. If Tanvir would have been a militant, police would have been visiting our house on daily basis but they never raided our house,” he said.
“I appeal people to impress upon the government to call for a time bound probe into the incident. Today it was my brother and it may be some of your family member tomorrow. We should stand up against such innocent killings,” he said but added that draconian laws like AFSPA are source of innocent killings across Jammu and Kashmir.
