Feb
11
India Orders Probe into Killings of Civilians by Security Forces
February 11, 2004 | 1 Comment
After Indian troops killed protestors in Kashmir, demonstrating against the killing of five civilians allegedly used as human shields by the Indian Army in an encounter with militants, the government has agreed to order a probe.
However, it remains to be seen how effective this probe will be. In March 2000, 35 Sikhs were killed in Chattisinghpora village in Kashmir. A few days later police tried to pin the blame on “foreign mercenaries,” killing five people. After Kashmiris demonstrated against these killings, claiming the victims were Kashmiri civilians, the Central Reserve Police Force and Kashmir police fired on the demonstrators, killing nine more civilians. A judicial probe later indicted the CRPF for “excessive firing.” Although the police officers were suspended, the government has not taken any action against the responsible CRPF personnel.
Later DNA tests proved that the five killed were innocent Kashmiri civilians. In July 2003, a ministerial probe found three policemen and two doctors guilty of trying to fudge the civilians’ DNA samples.
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