A day after the Army said a terrorist was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, a local family has contested the claim, alleging that the deceased had no links to militancy.
The Army has not officially identified the person killed during the gunfight in the Arahama area of Ganderbal, which took place during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.
However, a family from Chountwaliwar in Ganderbal has identified the deceased as 28-year-old Rashid Ahmad Mughal.
According to the family, Rashid had left home on Tuesday morning and did not return.
“My brother left home in the morning and didn’t come back. Yesterday, while I was at work, a police officer from Lar Police station asked me to come along to Srinagar to identify a body. It turned out to be my brother,” said Ajaz Ahmad, the elder brother of the deceased.
He alleged that the family was not informed about the circumstances of the killing.
“I reached home late in the evening, but the police did not tell us anything,” he said, asserting that his brother had no militant links.
“Everyone in our area knows Rashid was innocent. He was engaged in preparation of Adhar card, domicile certificates in the area. We want a probe into the incident,” Ajaz added.
There was no official response from the Srinagar-based defence spokesperson or the Senior Superintendent of Police, Ganderbal, to the family’s claims at the time of filing this report.
On Tuesday evening, Srinagar-based Chinar Corps of the Army said that a joint search operation was launched in Arahama following specific intelligence inputs, in coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
“During the search operation, vigilant troops noticed suspicious activity. When challenged, terrorists opened fire, prompting retaliation by our troops. The operation is in progress,” the Army had said.
In an update on Wednesday morning, the Army said the cordon was tactically reorganised during the night amid intermittent firing.
“Own troops effectively retaliated with calibrated response resulting in one terrorist eliminated. Operation is in progress,” Army said on X.
