SRINAGAR — Deputy Mayor Srinagar, Shiekh Imran, Wednesday express concern over the civilian killings in Kashmir saying “how does army justify the civilian killings?”
Condemning the killings of civilians in Pulwama, he said that the Government of India has held elections in Jammu and Kashmir for development and peace. “But, unfortunately, civilians are killed on a daily basis. The life of 25-year-old MBA graduate, who has an Indonesian wife, was snuffed out and his wife turned a widow. Are Kashmiris born to get killed like this ?’’
“I appeal to the chairman of the Pulwama town committee and other district towns of south Kashmir like Shopian and Kulgam to intervene and meet people and render them a healing touch. They should also meet the Army and discuss with them why are people taking up arms in the first place.”
Deputy Mayor further said the Government of India (GoI) has set up all kind of military machinery in J&K but “there is no machine which can return the lives of these people and make them sit at a dialogue table.”
“There is no machine or mechanism in place to attract youth towards peace,” he said.
He further maintained the Army argues it kills militants because it’s “terrorism and their presence poses a threat to civilian lives”, but at the same time how does the Army justify killing of “very civilians they are suppose to safeguard.”
“This year so many civilians have been killed during the operations carried out by the Army. A probe should be initiated in a time-bound manner and all local representatives should be part of it. It should not be the probe to hoodwink people,” Sheikh Imran said.
He said that the killing of civilians is crime and no force can afford to “go berserk against civilian population.”
“We, as elected representatives, besides the development want to understand the aspirations of people too. The ongoing CASOs are only leading to civilian casualties and nothing positive is coming out of it,” he added.