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| Accused of killing four foreign tourists in Pahalgam | | DIG Ashkoor yet to respond to notice issued by State Human Rights Commission | | Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, Sept 1: Already in dock for his alleged clandestine support for disbanding of Village Defence Committees (VDCs), Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Doda-Kishtwar range, Ashkoor Wani has not yet responded to a notice issued against him by State Human Rights Commission in a case that dates back to 1995.
Around a year and half back, State Human Rights Commission issued notices to then Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, P S Gill and Ashkoor Wani, then Superintendent of Police (SP) Anantnag. The notices were issued against Gill and Ashkoor following revelations that they were involved in the killing of four tourists in the Pahalgam area in 1995.
"There are allegations against the then IGP, Kashmir, P S Gill, and the then SP, Anantnag, Ashkoor Wani. The duo is directed to file a personal response in the matter," the Division Bench of the SHRC said in April 2012. Ashkoor is yet to make a personal appearance in the case before the State Human Rights Commission. Gill also did not turn up before SHRC authorities in the case.
Involvement of Ashkoor in the killing of four foreigners came to the fore after disclosures in a book 'The Meadow: Kashmir 1995-Where The Terror Began'. After the disclosures in book it was expected that police would re-investigate the kidnapping and reported killing of four foreign tourists in South Kashmir after a gap of 18 years. However, this did not happen due to lack from cooperation from Ashkoor and Gill.
In the book, investigative journalists Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark have said that four westerners were killed by state-sponsored gunmen. Since Ashkoor was SP Anantnag at the time of the incident fingers were pointed towards his involvement of killing of four foreigners. The kidnapping and subsequent killing of the four foreigners caught the attention of people living across the globe.
Four foreign tourists, John Childs and Don Hutchings of United States of America (USA) and Keith Mangan and Paul Wells of England, were kidnapped on July 4, 1995, during a trekking expedition in famed health resort of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district by the Al-Faran group. Four days later, on July 8, two more foreigners - Dirk Hasert of Germany and Hans Christian Ostro of Norway - were kidnapped. Childs managed to escape on July 8 while Ostro was reportedly beheaded. The other four were never traced and are believed to have been killed.
Later on it came to the forefront that Al-Faran group was created by agencies and the militant organizations denied the kidnapping of foreign tourists from Pahalgam. The kidnapping and presumed killing of the foreign tourists at Pahalgam led to imposition of advisories by the various European countries. Since then the advisories continue to remain with only German removing it fully while as United Kingdom removed them partially.
After the disclosures in the book, an application was moved by International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights on Kashmir before State Human Rights Commission for a comprehensive investigation into the kidnapping and the reported killings. Responding to this the SHRC issued notices to Ashkoor and Gill and sought their personal appearance but that never happened.
It would be in place to mention here that the minority community of Kishtwar protested against the role of Ashkoor in the communal clashes that broke out on Eid day (August 9). Members of minority community alleged that Ashkoor sided with the majority community and encouraged them to take out their anger against minority community members. It is also alleged that MLA Kishtwar and former Minister of State for Home, Sajad Kichloo also played a partisan role during the communal clashes that spread to the other parts of Jammu division. |
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