Major suspended, colonel removed over Kashmir killings

Srinagar/New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) A day ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Kashmir trip, the Indian Army Sunday removed a colonel from his command and suspended a major over three civilians’ killing in an alleged staged shootout April 30, officials said.

Commanding Officer of 4 Rajput Regiment Colonel D.K. Pathania has been removed from his command and Major Upender Sharma, named as the prime suspect in the alleged staged gun battle case, has been relieved of active duty pending an inquiry, officials said.

‘Colonel (Pathania) has been removed from the command. The second officer (Upender Sharma) has been suspended as of now and the inquiry has been ordered,’ Lieutenant General B.S. Jaswal, who heads the army’s Srinagar-based Northern Command, told reporters.

Jaswal assured people that the inquiry will be ‘totally transparent’ to seek the truth in the killing of Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Riyaz Ahmad Lone and Mohammed Shafi Lone of Nadihal village in Kupwara district of north Kashmir.

The major April 30 had filed a police report claiming to have foiled an infiltration bid at Machil, some 100 km north of Srinagar, and killed three militants.

Some arms and ammunition were also claimed to have been seized fro the site after the gunfight with the three.

But three families from Nadihaal village in Kupwara claimed that the killed were their kin and have been murdered.

The families recognised them from the pictures the police had taken of the bodies. The bodies were also exhumed as the police became suspicious when they saw that all the three were in summer clothes as opposed to warmer clothing needed while crossing the snowbound Line of Control that separates India and Pakistan.

Police also found bullet wounds in their heads, which they say was unlikely to happen during a gunfight.

Jaswal said the army’s ‘genuine concern is to be transparent’ in the probe ordered by the army.

‘This (action against the officers) is the first step. And this should be the indicator that subsequently we will be coming out with the truth,’ he said.

The action against the accused officers comes a day before Manmohan Singh’s two-day visit to Kashmir Monday to oversee developmental work.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Sunday held a meeting of the Unified Command, where senior army and civil administration officials were present, to take stock of the situation following the uproar over the killings.

Army sources in Delhi said the colonel has also been asked not to leave the Kashmir Valley till the probe into the case is completed. Pathania was to join his regiment that has been relocated to Meerut.

Police have arrested three co-conspirators — Abbas Hussain Shah, Bashir Ahmad Lone and Fayaz Ahmad. The police inquiry relies heavily on the statement of Abbas Hussain Shah, who is a soldier with the 161 Battalion of the Territorial Army.

The army inquiry is being headed by an officer of the rank of general officer commanding assisted by two other senior officers.

The sources said that the officer has been ordered to speed up the probe and submit a report to the defence ministry for action against the officials if they were found guilty.

This is the second time that a serving army officer has been removed from a command.

Earlier in 2006, Colonel R.S. Guleria of 33 Rashtriya Rifles was removed from his command for the alleged killing of three cricket playing boys in Dudipora-Handwara.