Karra questions circumstances of Kishtwar SPO killings, seeks investigation into all angles

Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hamid Karra has demanded a thorough and impartial investigation into the killing of two Special Police Officers (SPOs) in Kishtwar, questioning the circumstances surrounding the incident and insisting that all possible angles, including the possibility of mistaken identity by security forces, be probed.

Speaking to reporters, Karra said the Congress had already raised the issue through its Kishtwar district president, demanding that the militancy angle be properly investigated but maintaining that other possibilities, including the alleged firing by security personnel due to mistaken identity, must also be examined.

He alleged that the BJP was not only pushing the militancy angle but also attempting to give the episode a communal colour.  

Karra said one set of claims suggested that the two SPOs, who had gone hunting with guns, had crossed two Army pickets without any difficulty while proceeding towards the area but were allegedly fired upon when they were returning in civilian clothes, apparently after being mistaken for militants.

“The Kishtwar incident is condemnable, whoever may have committed it. However, many questions are being raised about it”, Karra said.

Karra, who is an MLA from the Central Shalteng constituency in Srinagar, said the other story “being propagated by the BJP is that they were killed by militants”.

“Yesterday, through my Kishtwar district president, we demanded that if you have an angle of militancy in it, do investigate it properly. But the other angles should also be investigated”, he added.

“Another highly condemnable thing that happened in this is the way the BJP is trying to communalise it. The local female MLA there gave a statement saying an announcement was made from the mosques of Warwan to kill Hindus. This is highly condemnable”, he said.

He said the party’s Kishtwar district president is also a Hindu and he has asked him to challenge the statement.

He asserted that a battery of BJP leaders sitting in Kishtwar is “trying to communalise the situation”. “I think they have other designs behind their statements and are permanently sitting there. We cannot ignore the manner in which they have done all this”, he added.

He also questioned the Centre’s claims that the situation in J&K is normal. “Earlier too, whenever such shifts in the situation occurred, we raised this issue, asking them to come clear on whether the situation is actually normal or not. Whenever the Government of India needs to claim that everything is hunky-dory, especially when they have to sell this narrative to the international community, or when the international community visits Jammu and Kashmir, they make such claims”, he said.

“And whenever it doesn’t suit them, whether it’s about statehood or militancy-related issues, they say the situation is bad. All we say is: let them issue a white paper on whether the situation is good or not good”, he added.