The Army said on Saturday that it will cooperate with investigations into three civilians from Jammu and Kashmir being found dead near the site of a suspected militant attack in the Poonch district.
“Reports have been received regarding three civilian deaths in the area,” the Army said in a social media post. “The matter is under investigation. Indian Army stands committed to extending full support and cooperation in the conduct of investigations.”
The attack on the Army on Thursday left four Indian soldiers dead and two injured. The People’s Anti-Fascist Front, an offshoot of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The three civilians were found dead near the site on the next day. They were identified as Safeer Hussain (43), Mohammad Showket (27) and Shabir Ahmad (32), and were part of a group of eight civilians picked up for questioning about the Poonch attack.
The Jammu and Kashmir government acknowledged the deaths in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, but did not provide an explanation for how they occurred.
“The medico-legal formalities were conducted and legal action in this matter has been initiated by the appropriate authority,” the information and public relations department of the Union territory said. “Government has announced compensation for each of the deceased. Further Government has also announced compassionate appointments to the next of kin of each deceased.”
Commenting on the deaths, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti said that the main reason why such deaths occur is that security forces “think that they can get away with fake encounters”, The Indian Express reported. She said that this was illustrated by the decision of an Armed Forces Tribunal to suspend the life imprisonment sentence of an Army official, Captain Bhoopendra Singh, and to grant him bail.
Earlier this year, an Army court had held Singh guilty of killing three labourers and passing them off as militants.
Mufti said that if the deaths of the three civilians had occurred under any other government, the “godi media [lapdog media] would have raised questions”.
Jammu Kashmir National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah said that if the allegations were correct, they would amount to unacceptable misuse of force, and of protection given to security forces under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
“Even asking for a transparent inquiry and punishment for any violations of human rights seems pointless given how those who are found guilty are released scot-free without serving their punishment,” he said.
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