SRINAGAR: Within a day after the army announced a probe into the three civilian killings in a remote Poonch village, the Army has shifted three senior officers, including a Brigadier stationed in Rajouri, Chandigarh newspaper, The Tribune reported. The other two officers who have been shifted are of the rank of Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel.
“Officials confirmed that Brigadier Padam Acharya, Brigade Commander of the Rashtriya Rifles, has been removed from the unit along with three other senior Army officers following the death of three civilians and injuries to about 10 others,” Jammu-based newspaper Daily Excelsior reported.
The probe was initiated after a video clip showing the civilians being “interrogated”. Army Chief General Manoj Pande is expected to visit Jammu and possibly Poonch today.
Three civilians Safeer Hussain, Mohammad Showket and Shabir Ahmad, all residents of Topa Pir village, falling in Poonch’s Bafliaz belt were found dead after the Army allegedly rounded up them and five others for questioning soon after the Thursday militant ambush that killed many soldiers. The deceased soldiers have been identified as Naik Birender Singh from Chamoli, Uttarakhand; Rifleman Gautam Kumar from Pauri Gharwal, Uttarakhand; Naik Karan Kumar from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh; and Rifleman Chandan Kumar from Nawada, Bihar.
Family members and neighbours of the dead trio have told The Wire that their family members were in the video clip. “Mehmood Ahmed, the village’s sarpanch identified Shabbir and Showkat from the viral video, in which soldiers can be seen brutally beating the captive men,” the website reported. “Mohammad Siddique, uncle of Mohammad Showkat, one of three civilians allegedly killed in Army custody, said that it was his nephew who was seen in the video, begging a lathi-wielding soldier with folded hands to let him go.”
The Indian Express reported that the authorities have put Mehbooba Mufti under house arrest and prevented her from visiting the village where the three civilians were killed.
Reports appearing in the media suggest that the Jammu and Kashmir Police have registered an FIR in the killing of three civilians.
