As the death toll of civilians killed in police firing mounts in the Valley, Congress leaders, part of the coalition government, have sought the appointment of a high-level independent commission to inquire into these incidents.
J&K Pradesh Congress president Saif-ud-din Soz said that it was high time the administration took effective measures to avoid killings of civilians at all costs. ?Our party workers should take a middle course of truthfulness and justice between the two extremes,? Soz told the gathering of Congress workers in Central Kashmir. ?J&K Police and other forces should exercise restraint.? Only last week, Soz had asked J&K Police to take the lead role in tackling the protests.
Last week, another Congress leader and minister of public health engineering, Taj Mohudidin, had termed the situation in the Valley as tense and said that the Army?s assistance could be sought to control the situation. ?We have even asked deputy commissioners of troubled districts to seek assistance from local station commanders of the Army,? he said. On Monday, loyalists of Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad held a meeting at the house of roads & buildings minister GM Saroori and demanded the appointment of an independent commission into the recent civilian killings at Sopore, Baramulla, Anantnag and Srinagar that will submit its report in 15 days.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the leaders said that the recent killings needed to be thoroughly investigated. ?Without wasting any time, the government should set up an independent commission to probe the killing of youths in the Valley and the commission should make its report public within 15 days,? they said in the statement. The Congress leaders even sought exemplary punishment for those involved in the killing of civilians.
The meeting was also attended by former assembly member Haji Rashid Dar, MLC Amin Bhat, Pradesh Congress Committee state secretary Surinder Singh, former MLA Faqir Khan, former advisor to CM, Manzoor Ganai, Zahid Hussein Jan, Mushtaq Ahmad.