The body of one of the three civilians who were reported missing in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district was recovered on Thursday, triggering calls for a fresh probe into a series of mysterious deaths that have rocked Jammu and Kashmir in the past month.
Police had earlier recovered the bodies of five of the seven civilians who had been reported missing in separate incidents in Jammu’s Kathua district in the past month, with BJP leaders blaming militants for “executing the five Hindu men”. Two Muslim minors, too, remain untraced.
Official sources said the incidents in the Kashmir and Jammu divisions were unlikely to be connected, but tensions have mounted in both regions as the disappearances and deaths have happened around the same time and in quick succession. The police are yet to divulge the cause of the deaths.
One of the three men, who was reported missing under mysterious circumstances nearly a month ago, has been found dead, officials said on Thursday. His body was recovered from Veshow Nallah in Mah in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
An official said the police recovered the body of Riyaz Ahmad Bajad, 25, a resident of Chandian Pajan in Devsar, from a stream.
Bajad and the two other missing persons, Shokit Bajard and Mukhtar Awan, are members of the tribal Gujjar community. Their family members staged a protest in the area to force the police to look for them.
BJP leader and former minister Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali said the three had gone missing on their way to a wedding. “I urge upon @HMOIndia @OfficeOfLGJandK @KashmirPolice to get the matter thoroughly investigated to bring the culprits to justice. I also again urge the @OfficeOfLGJandK to direct the concerned to ensure safe return of others. This heinous act is highly condemnable,” he wrote on X.
The Opposition PDP has urged the Centre to start an inquiry into the “serious matter”.
“This has gone too far to be just ‘incidents’. We hope justice is served and the truth comes out,” the Youth PDP posted on X.
Apart from the two missing men in Kashmir, teen cousins Deen and Rehmat Ali are missing in Kathua.
