KL Desk
SRINAGAR – October 5, 2012
Families of five victims being summoned by the Army to appear before the court martial echoed in assembly when a PDP lawmaker demanded the venue of the court should be shifted wither to Srinagar or to south Kashmir Islamabad.
The issue was raised well before the question hour could start.
The fake encounter in which five civilians were killed and dubbed foreigners was investigated by the CBI. The issue was later transferred to the Court Martial and the court has started operating in Jammu. The families are being summoned to appear before the court but they have skipped honoring the summons for a varied set of reasons.
Peerzada Mansoor Hussain informed the house that the victims are facing problems in appearing before the Court that has been convened in Nagrota that falls under 16 corps based at Jammu. The lawmaker demanded the case should be shifted from Army Court Nagrota, Jammu to Kashmir so that the victim families face no hurdles. He also highlighted the victim families should receive summons from the state police and not from the Army officials.
Speaker, M A lone responded that he will look into the matter as per law and sees if he could do anything as per law.
The Court started functioning last month and so far it has issued two summons to the families. While in one case the summoned person has passed away, in at least two cases the summoned members of the respective families are not keeping proper health to drive to a long distance. Army has already stated that holding the court in 15 corps is ruled out because Srinagar based 15 corps had involved itself with the defense of the accused during last few years.
