J&K police book father of slain ‘terrorist’ for holding protest

Jammu and Kashmir Police has registered an FIR against the father of an alleged terrorist killed in an encounter in the Parimpora area of the city on December 30 last year for holding a protest in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district earlier this week.

Athar Mushtaq was killed along with two other alleged militants Aijaz Maqbool Ganai and Zubair Ahmad Lone in the encounter last year. The families of the three deceased have been holding protests and demanding the return of their bodies. Athar’s father Mushtaq Ahmad Wani and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the FIR, which the police claimed was on grounds of unlawful assembly, was lodged because the former had held a protest demanding the body of his son who was buried by the forces in Ganderbal, some 110 km away. “There is an FIR against an unlawful assembly at Below (Pulwama) on February 05, 2021,” Pulwama SP, Ashish Kumar, said in a text message.

As per local reports, Wani and others have been booked under sections 147, 341, 153 of IPC and 13 of the UAPA for “organizing illegal processions under criminal conspiracy”.