No witness turns up before inquiry comm probing Sophian deaths

SRINAGAR: No witness has come forward to depose before the inquiry officer probing the killing of five persons in security forces firing in Shopian district of Kashmir three days after the inquiry began.

"So far no one has deposed orally or through affidavit in connection with the killings that took place on September 7 and September 11," said District Magistrate Bashir Ahmad Bhat, who is the inquiry officer.

The state government on September 12 had ordered a magisterial probe into the firing incidents outside a CRPF camp in Shopian.

Four persons were killed by CRPF personnel outside their camp on September 7, while another person died when the paramilitary force resorted to firing to disperse protestors outside the camp on September 11.

The inquiry officer on Saturday issued a notice calling upon witnesses to depose before him in connection with the killings from September 16 to September 21.

Shopian town has been under curfew since September 8, barring September 11 when the authorities lifted curfew but protests and subsequent firing led to another death and re-imposition of the restrictions in the town.