Relatives and neighbours of two men killed during a security operation in Indian-administered Kashmir demanded Wednesday that their bodies be returned, denying the pair were associated with militants.
Police said the men died in “crossfire” on Monday during a shoot-out alongside two suspected rebels also killed in the incident in Srinagar, the restive territory’s main administrative hub.
But their families have accused security forces of murdering them in “cold blood” after taking them into a commercial complex to help search for insurgents.
“Today it happened to us, tomorrow it can happen to anyone,” said Abdul Majeed Bhat, whose brother Mohammad owned the building and was killed in the incident.
He was among dozens of people staging a sit-in protest outside Press Enclave, where most of the region’s media offices are located, and holding signs to demand justice.
“We’ll not rest until my brother’s body is returned to us,” Bhat told AFP. “I appeal to every Kashmiri to protest for the same.”
Security forces in Kashmir last year began refusing families access to the bodies of slain militants.
Officials say the practice helps stop “glorification” of anti-India rebels, whose funerals were usually attended by thousands of people.
After they were killed, the pair were hurriedly buried in the middle of the night by police in a remote graveyard, without their families present.
Humaira Mudasir, whose husband Mudasir Ahmed Gul was also killed Monday, was among the crowd and cradling her one-year-old daughter in her lap.
“Give me my husband’s body. Give me proof of his involvement (with rebels). He was murdered unarmed,” she told reporters.
Gul had rented an office in the building and was running a real estate business.
Clashes between rebels and Indian government forces in the disputed Himalayan territory –- which is divided with Pakistan -– has claimed the lives of at least 135 militants so far this year.
Around three dozen civilians have also died in the violence, including the two men killed Monday.
Police acknowledged in a Tuesday statement that they called the pair to “accompany” their search of the building, claiming they died in an exchange of fire with “terrorists”.
They also accused both men of being associated with terrorist groups, and claimed one of the militants killed was a resident of Pakistan, without offering evidence for either claim.
No member of the security forces was reported injured in the incident.
Rebel groups have fought 500,000 Indian security personnel deployed in the territory for more than three decades to end Indian rule in Kashmir, with wide support from residents in the Muslim-majority territory.
