Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Monday ordered time-bound enquiry into Sopore killings and convened a meeting of the Unified Headquarters on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
“The Chief Minister has taken a serious view of the killings of civilians in Sopore and issued directions to the Home Department for stepping up investigations and providing secure environment to all civilians,” an official spokesman said.
He said the matter is scheduled to be discussed in the meeting of the Unified Headquarters, which has been convened on June 17.
The spokesman said the police has taken all possible steps to fast-track investigation into all the relevant aspects of the incidents and set up special monitoring mechanism to keep track of proper investigation. The government is making all out efforts to ensure safety and security of the innocent civilians, the spokesman said.
Separatists call for strike on June 17: Meanwhile several separatist outfits in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday called for a state-wide strike on Wednesday to protest the string of militant attacks against civilians in Sopore town of Baramulla district.
The decision to call a state-wide strike on June 17 was taken after a consulative meeting between representatives of Hurriyat Conference faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik-headed JKLF, reports PTI.
A spokesman of the moderate Hurriyat denounced the killing of a shopkeeper in the town by suspected militants today, saying the separatist leadership “cannot remain a mute spectator to these daring incidents of killing”. He said the top separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz, Geelani and Malik would visit Sopore on Friday to express solidarity with people of the town.
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Fourth killing in 7 days
Sopore : A shopkeeper was shot dead by suspected militants on Monday in this north Kashmir town, in fourth civilian killing in a week and second since Sunday, police said.
Two young men visited the shop-cum-residence of Aijaz Ahmed Reshi this morning and pumped two bullets into his head, sending shock waves through the state’s ‘apple town’, barely 52 km from capital Srinagar, reports PTI.
The incident came within 24 hours of unidentified gunmen killing Mehraj-ud-din-Bhat, a former militant, who ran a poultry shop in Badamibagh. Reshi, an ex-militant of banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terror group, was running a provisional store after having served a five-year prison term. A father of five girls, Reshi was opening his shop when the two assailants approached and killed him.
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