Srinagar: Kashmir High Court Bar Association on Monday said the Shahid Mansoor Mir, a resident of Gagran-Khadipora village in south Kashmir’s Shopian was “tortured and later shot dead in custody” after being arrested three hours before the gunfight in which police claimed he was killed along with a militant on weekend.
“The Bar Association also condemns the killing of a 27 year old civilian namely Shahid Mansoor Mir, who alongwith another civilian had been bundled by the army into their vehicle, three hours before a gunfight broke out between militants and government forces in Gagran-Khadipora village of Shopian and was tortured and shot dead in custody,” said the lawyers’ body in a statement issued here.
The KHCBA also strongly condemns the killing of a mentally retarded person, Rias Ahmad of Kulgam’s Begum village, near a camp at Pahnoo village of Shopian District by army.
“ The ruthless forces under the garb of immunity provided to them by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, are killing innocent Kashmiries with impunity and also without any fear of reprisal and accountability,” the lawyers’ body said.
“The Bar Association describes the killing of Shahid Mansoor and Rias Ahmad, as an act of brutality, which has no parallels in the contemporary history of the world, where people have been subjected to torture, humiliation, killing, maiming and blinding and destruction of their properties only because they want the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions/decisions and the fulfillment of the promises and pledges made to them at the world fora, and the civilized people of the world for their petty consideration have been watching the said genocide silently and are not raising their voice for stopping the gravest kind of human rights violations occurring in the State of J&K at the hands of Govt. forces.”
The Bar Association also condemned the killing of a religious scholar of Pakistan Moulana Sami-ul-haq and while expressing its sympathy with the bereaved family prayed to Almighty Allah to rest his soul in peace.
The Bar Association also expressed grief over the death of Khalid Ibrahim a veteran politician of Azad Kashmir, who died of brain hemorrhage at the age of 72 years, yesterday.
