Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday questioned the official version that arms and ammunition were recovered from the Shopian encounter site in July after the DNA tests on Friday proved that the three slain men were labourers from Rajouri district of the union territory. “According to this official version, ”incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter”. So who planted this ”incriminating material”?” Omar said in a tweet. He was reacting to Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar’s statement that the DNA match of the three slain men, who were dubbed as militants by the Army, has come positive with those persons who had claimed them to be their kin. “These young men were buried somewhere in North Kashmir. It is imperative that the bodies be exhumed & handed over to the families immediately so that a proper burial can take place near their homes in Rojouri district,” Omar, who is also the National Conference vice president, said. On July 18, the Army had claimed three militants were killed in Amshipura village in the higher reaches of south Kashmir’s Shopian district. It initiated an inquiry after social media reports indicated that the three men were from Rajouri and had gone missing in Amshipura. The families of the three men had claimed they worked as labourers in Shopian and lodged a police complaint. The police also launched an investigation and collected the DNA samples of the three families from Rajouri to match with the slain men. “The DNA report has come and matching has taken place,” Kumar told reporters here on Friday. Sajad Lone, chairman of Peoples Conference, said he did not expect anything to change due to the latest developments as such cases have happened in the past as well. “Will there be any change? Will the sanctity of human life be restored? No. nothing will change. This encounter was exposed by our media forcing initiation of investigation. As hiding it in today’s digital age was not possible. My thoughts with the 3 men murdered in cold blood,” Lone wrote on his Twitter handle. “Had this been the first time, one could have hoped it won’t happen again. It is not the first time and not the last time. There is no deterrence and in Delhi there is a lot of tolerance for HR violations in Kashmir. Justice will be ornamental unless it is divine,” he added.
