KNZ NEWS DESK
Srinagar Oct 31 [KNZ]: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to J&K government and a major of Indian army’s 27 RR “Trehmukh Top post” in a petition filed by Manzoor Ahmad Khan through his brother Mohammad Aslam Khan.
Manzoor was taken into custody by 27 RR camp on May 31, 2017. Since then he was not released. Police station Lalpora had filed a case under FIR No 63/2017 in this regard under section 364, 343 RPC.
Manzoor was represented by his counsel Adv Nasir Qadri. The case has been listed for November 7.
Manzoor Ahmad, a labourer in his early twenties, disappeared from an army camp at Trehmokh Top in the remote Lolab area of Kupwara district in northern Kashmir. Manzoor and another local, Nasrullah Khan, were detained for ‘some questioning’ while they were on their way to Trehmokh Top from their village, Kakar Devar Patti.
Protests erupted on 31 August near the Top – a tri-junction mountain pasture connecting Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara – after locals accused the army of arresting the two men.
The army camp is situated near the Top where people from surrounding villages live during summer in small wood and mud structures called dokhas. The villagers have to pass through the camp and sign in to enter it, producing their identity cards before moving towards the Top or returning to the villages.
Nasrullah was found near the dokhas by the evening of 31 August. He was ‘half-dead’ due to severe torture, villagers said. Locals also said the army assured them that “both will be released”.
Khan was taken to the local health centre from where doctors referred him to SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, in critical condition. Later he was shifted to SKIMS, Soura, for better treatment as he was suffering from severe kidney damage.
