The Hindu : Front Page : J&K Minister may have misled voters

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Tuesday, Apr 06, 2004

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Front Page

J&K Minister may have misled voters

By Praveen Swami

SRINAGAR, APRIL 5. A top Minister of the People's Democratic Party-led coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir may have misled voters last week, when he claimed that the Army had taken action against officials allegedly responsible for civilian deaths in Tral and Bandipore.

The Law Minister, Muzaffar Beigh, had told the gathering at a March 29 rally in Sopore that "action has been taken by the Army against some guilty personnel and one of the officers who had used the civilian as human shields. Action against those involved in the killing of a youth at Tral has also been taken by the Army."

Investigations by The Hindu, however, have found this statement to be incorrect. Colonel Anuj Mathur, commanding officer of the 10 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, remains at his post in Bandipore, although he is shortly due to be transferred after the end of his routine tour of duty. No junior officer has been transferred out of the unit either. The 10 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, human rights organisations and some local residents had claimed, used five villagers as human shields in the course of a counter-terrorist operation.

Similarly, Colonel R.C. Khajuria, commanding officer of the 42 Rashtriya Rifles in Tral, remains in charge of the unit. Troops of the 42 Rashtriya Rifles were alleged to have tortured a Tral shopkeeper, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, to death. The Army does not deny that Mir died in its custody, but insists that the death was due to a pre-existing cardiac condition, not torture. Like the Bandipore killings, the death of Mr. Mir sparked protests which threatened to derail the ongoing dialogue between the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and the Union Government.

An Army spokesperson in New Delhi confirmed The Hindu's findings. "After all such incidents, the Army investigates the allegations made against its personnel," he said. "So far, however, no credible evidence has been found to substantiate the allegations made in Tral and Bandipore, and there is as such no reason for us to sack or remove anyone."

A top police official in Jammu and Kashmir had earlier told The Hindu that a separate police

investigation into the Bandipore affair had found no hard evidence that the five men killed in the course of a firefight between the 10 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and terrorists were used as human shields.

Mr. Beigh was not available for comment, so it remains unclear just what the basis of his assertion in fact was. It is possible the Minister himself was relying on media commentary. On March 28, The Indian Express had reported that the Army had "ordered action against its personnel in connection" with the Tral killing. The report claimed that the Army had "decided to transfer

the commanding officer and the company commander of the Rashtriya Rifles" in the wake of Mr. Mir's death. It also asserted that the Army had concluded that "irregular procedures" were followed in Bandipore. The Army spokesperson denies any such decisions and findings were arrived at, a proposition rendered credible by the fact that no one has been transferred.

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