Four Hyderpora fake encounter victims had deep head wounds’, locals at Handwara graveyard reveal 

Srinagar, November 25, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, villagers in Handwara who buried the four civilians martyred by Indian troops in Hyderpora area of Srinagar on November 15 revealed that all the four victims had deep head wounds.

On the chilling night of 15 November [2021] around 8 pm, the villagers of Wudder Payeen, Handawara, after performing the last prayers of the day, were at their homes looking forward to having dinner before going to bed, when they heard some activity in the village. Without wasting any time, the villagers, mostly men, assembled at a common point on the street to inquire about the matter when the news that three dead bodies from Srinagar are on their way for a burial dawned upon them.

About 90 kilometers from Srinagar, Wudder Payeen village in north Kashmir’s Handwara district is one of the few destinations that have been identified by the Indian authorities to bury fake encounter victims instead of handing over the bodies to the family, as was the norm earlier.

The four bodies, villagers said, that were about to be buried were the ones killed in a Hyderpora fake encounter in Srinagar earlier in the day. According to the official police handout, on 16 November 2021, during a joint cordon and search operation launched by Indian army, police, Central Reserve Police Force, the youth were killed in a gunfight.

However, the families of the martyred civilians have rejected the police version that their kin were involved in the militancy. The villagers in Wudder Payeen told media that they started digging the graves after 10:30pm. And in the meanwhile, it was said a fourth body is also coming. “It was a very cold night. There was no electricity and we were short of people to dig four graves simultaneously. So, we brought some people from a marriage celebration that was taking place at some distance from the graveyard,” they said.

As per the villagers, the three bodies that initially reached at the graveyard include of Bilal Haider, Amir Magray, and Muhammad Altaf Butt. The body of Dr Mudasir Gul, villagers said, reached almost an “hour later” after the three bodies. As per the villagers, all four victims had deep wounds on their heads, with two clearly appearing to be gunshot wounds on the forehead.

Eyewitnesses said that Mudasir and Haidar had gunshot wounds on the frontal bone of the head, while Butt and Amir had wounds on occipital bone [back of the head]. Butt also had a gunshot on his right leg as well. “In Haidar’s case, the bullet had pierced through his head. He had a big hole at the back of his head,” one of the locals said. “The villagers had to wrap Gul’s and Haidar’s head with surgical tape before covering them in a shroud.” Villagers said that it was at 5am [on Tuesday], when all the four bodies were finally laid to rest.

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