Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: The Government today said in the Assembly that all seven militants killed in an encounter at Dardpora forests in Kupwara district on February 24 were not locals. It also said that some of the protesters at Lalpora yesterday raised anti-national slogans.
The Government made the statement in the Assembly following uproar created by the PDP legislators and Independent MLA Engineers Rashid, who staged dharna in Well of the House and later walked-out saying curfew has been imposed in the area and people were being harassed.
During the Question Hour, PDP MLA from Lolab (Kupwara) Abdul Haq Khan and Independent MLA from Langet (Kupwara) Engineer Rashid trooped into middle of the House. Mr Khan said curfew has been imposed in parts of Kupwara and people have been confined to their houses causing them inconvenience.
Intervening, PDP MLA Nizam-ud-Din Bhat said a number of civilians have been injured and the Speaker should listen to Mr Khan.
Later, Haq Khan sat on dharna in the Well of the House and was joined by Engineer Rashid and PDP MLAs including Basharat Bukhari, Dr Shaffi Ahmad Wani while other PDP MLAs including Deputy Legislature Party leader Abdul Rehman Veeri protested from their seats. PDP Legislature Party leader Mehbooba Mufti was not present in the House today.
The protesting MLAs were shouting slogans like ‘Curfew Sarkar Hai Hai’.
Speaker Mubarak Gul said he has already given a direction to the Minister to make a statement on the incident in the House today. He said the Minister too had to collect the statement and would reply after the Question Hour. However, the PDP MLAs continued their protest some from near the Well and others from their benches.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saifullah Mir, who also represents Kupwara Assembly segment, said since the MLAs were agitating, the Speaker can give two minutes time to the Home Minister to make a statement.
The Speaker stopped Question Hour and allowed Minister of State for Home Sajjad Kitchloo to make a statement on the incident.
Haq Khan contested the Minister’s statement that there was no curfew in the area asking: “if the statement was correct why the people have been locked in the Houses”?
Not satisfied with the statement, all PDP MLAs and Engineer Rashid staged a walk-out in the House.
Meanwhile, asserting that the seven killed in Lolab encounter in North Kashmir were confirmed to be militants, Minister of State for Home Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo said curfew was not imposed in the region, but preventive measures were taken to avoid law and order situation.
“Seven bodies (of those killed in the encounter) were confirmed to be of militants who were operating in the forests of Lolab,” he said.
“After completing medico-legal formalities like post-mortem, photography, DNA sampling, the dead bodies were handed over to local Auquaf Committee of Lalpora, which also confirmed that none of the killed militants was a local and civilian,” he said, adding that the bodies were then buried in a local graveyard at Lalpora.
Describing the details, Mr Kitchloo said a case was registered after the encounter at Lalpora police station on Monday, and post mortem was being conducted on Tuesday when a mob gathered outside the station and resorted to stone-pelting, injuring 21 policemen and damaging public and private property.
Police exercised restraint to ensure civilians were not hurt while resorting to tear gas and smoke shells to disperse the mob which set bunkers at the station on fire, he said.
“No curfew was imposed in Lolab, but only restriction under Section 144 CrPC was imposed there as precautionary measure,” the Minister informed the Assembly.
Case under Sections 307, 148,147, 149, 336, 436 RPC, section 3 of PTT Act (Prevention of Damage of Public Property Act) has been registered in Lalpora police station, he said.
The district administration of Kupwara has taken all possible measures to avoid any law and order situation and to ensure that peace is not disturbed and general public is not put to any inconvenience, the MoS Home said.
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