380 not 134 killed during Omar’s rule: CCS

SRINAGAR: The coalition of civil society groups, JKCCS, has taken strong exception to the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s claim that 134 persons had “lost their loves” between 2009 and 2014. The civil society group said in a statement that 380 civilians were killed in five and half years. On 27 August 2014, Chief Minister [who also holds charge of Home Department] stated in the Legislative Assembly that from 2009 to July 2014, 134 persons had “lost their lives” in action by police and paramilitary forces.

“This statement, reportedly made in the most benign language [for example the use of the phrase lost their lives as opposed to killed], is a pathetic defense of a tenure which has overseen widespread and systematic killings in Jammu and Kashmir at the hands of the Indian State forces. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir seeks to limit its responsibility to 134 civilians killed in 5 ½ years, when it in reality bears responsibility for a total of 380 civilians who have been killed from 2009 to July 2014,” said a statement from JKCCS.

The government figures are based on the daily police press notes which are aimed at controlling the discourse and the damage caused by the actions of the armed forces, the statement added. “No independent or fair investigations are carried out to establish the culpability and circumstances under which these people were killed. The governments culpability lies in directing and overseeing these killings and in taking no action.”

“Further, the terminology of the Chief Ministers response is expected and clearly indicative of the position of the government on the role of the armed forces. Killing of civilians is referred to as engagements between protestors and deployment on the ground, and killing of civilians by State forces by drowning [as perhaps in the case of Faizan Ahmad Buhroo by the SOG in 2010] is referred to merely as drowning.”

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