PDP President and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday led a protest here against the “civilian killings” by security forces in the recent encounter in Srinagar’s Hyderpora and demanded handing over of bodies of those killed to their families.

She demanded stern action against those involved in alleged civilian killings and immediate handing over of dead bodies to the family for a decent burial.

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Mehbooba said since the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has been in force, there has been no accountability for the killings of the innocents.

Four people, including two civilians, were killed in a gunfight with security forces during an encounter in the Hyderpora locality.

While Kashmir leaders have described the two killed civilians as “innocent”, the GOC of the Indian Army’s 15 Corps Lieutenant General DP Pandey described them as “white-collar terrorists” who were involved in the recruitment of terrorists and providing them logistics.

According to the police, Haider, a Pakistani terrorist, and his local associate Mohammad Amir, along with two civilians, Altaf Bhat and Mudassir Gul, were killed in the encounter in Hyderpora locality, where an illegal call centre and a terror hideout were allegedly being run by Gul on the premises owned by Bhat.

Holding a placard that read “Stop killing us”, “probe Hyderpora killings”, “end impunity and handover bodies to families”, Mehbooba, along with party activists and leaders, staged a protest outside the party’s headquarters in the Gandhi Nagar colony in Jammu.

A strong posse of policemen stopped the protesters from moving towards the main road.

Mehbooba said “this cruel government is not even handing over the bodies after killing people. They (BJP) want to convert this nation of Gandhi, Nehru, and Ambedkar into a country of Godse. What else can I say”? the PDP leader said.

Asked about the IGP’s claim of there being digital evidence against those killed, she said: If they had prior evidence, why the police did not arrest them.

Whenever anybody gets killed in their firing, they dub him an “Over Groundworker”, which is wrong.

Those killed in Hyderpora are “innocent civilians” and their families are denied even performing their last rites, she claimed.

Referring to a previous incident of “fake encounter” in which three youths were killed in Shopian, she said the security agencies made the claim of having digital evidence even then, but the reality is that they have no evidence.