Srinagar:
Jammu and Kashmir Government on Saturday ordered a judicial inquiry into the killings of two civilians allegedly by CRPF personnel in Sopore in North Kashmir and directed it to submit a report within a month.
The decision to set up the one-man commission of state Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice (retd) Syed Bashir-ud-din was taken by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah after an emergency meeting with his Cabinet ministers.
"All the aspects were discussed like what were the reasons behind it, why and how it happened, who instigated it, how did people come out etc," said Taj Mohiudin, Minister PHE, Irrigation.
Justice Bashir-ud-din has been asked to complete his probe within a period of 30 days. It will inquire into all the incidents that took place on Friday after the death of local Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militant Qayyum Najjar.
An official notification said the commission shall inquire into the causes of death of Shakeel Ahmad Ganai and Firdous Ahmad Khan in firing at Krankshivan Sopore, determine the persons responsible for the said deaths and fix responsibility for use of excessive force, if any.
An indefinite curfew is on in Sopore since Friday evening after two civilians were killed and three injured in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) firing.
Defying curfew, people of Sopore in north Kashmir on Saturday took to streets and staged demonstrations against the killing of two youths in CRPF firing. The protesters also stopped the Baramulla-Quazigund rail at Sopore on Saturday.
Official sources said groups of people defied curfew and staged demonstrations at Hathishah Mohalla, Jamia Kadeem and Krankshivan and pelted stones on law enforcers. However, there was no report of any casualty.
Describing the situation in Sopore as tense but under control, the sources said the state police and paramilitary forces personnel are patrolling the deserted streets.
Trouble started on Friday evening when people took to streets soon after an encounter at Bagh-i-Islam Krankshivan, in which security forces claimed to have killed two militants, identified as Abdul Qayoom Najjar and Javid Ahmad.
Najjar, a local, was allegedly involved in a series of killings including that of National Conference worker Ghulam Nabi Khan.
The locals claimed that Javid was a civilian and his body be handed over to them.
As protesters pelted stones on CRPF personnel who were retreating after the encounter, the paramilitary forces opened fire injuring eight persons, two of whom succumbed in hospital.
The incident has given the Opposition a lot of ammunition to attack the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his government.
"During these last 18 months we see that with the policies of the government, there is a rise in the human rights violation. The space for mainstream politicians as well as moderate leadership on the other side has got choked, so we feel that the process of democracy is getting reversed now'," PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said.
CRPF spokesman Prabhakar Tripathy said CRPF opened fire in self defence when the mob set on fire a car of the force.
However, locals refuted the claim of CRPF saying that the firing was resorted against innocent people and it was only when the CRPF opened fire that their vehicle was torched.
As the situation went out of control, authorities clamped indefinite curfew in the town around 10 pm last night.
Protesting against the incidents, separatists gave a call for Kashmir bandh on Saturday. Shops and business establishments remained closed in Srinagar and other major towns of the Valley and vehicles did not ply.
The Prime Minister has promised a policy of zero tolerance against human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, but the recent developments have cast a shadow on that promise. Can India's youngest Chief Minister contain the storm?
(With PTI inputs)