Srinagar, August 18, 2018 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, police admitted before the Human Rights Commission that a youth who was killed by the Indian troops in Phalilohar Pati Devar area in 1998 was not a militant. Mohammad Iqbal Shah, 22, a resident of Devar Lolab was killed in July 1998 and his body was handed over to police by the Indian Army’s 15 Rashtriya Rifles unit camped at Trumikh, Watlab, in Sopore labeling him as a militant.
The police said that on July 8, 1998, parents and relatives of Iqbal Shah came to know that his body was handed over by the soldiers following which a case regarding the incident was registered in Sopore Police Station. It was later found that the youth had gone to Phalilohar Pati Devar forest for grazing animals on July 7, 1998 but did not return.
The revelations came in the course of hearing of a petition filed in the commission by human rights activist and Chairman of International Forum for Human Rights and Justice, Muhammad Ahsan Untoo. The Investigation Wing of the commission told the rights body that police record revealed that Iqbal Shah was a civilian and was not involved in any criminal activity.
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