Shopian panel report adds fuel to Valley fire, strike to go on

SRINAGAR: It was supposed to answer some of the questions regarding the rape and murder of two young women in apple town of Shopian. But, Justice (retd) Muzaffar Jan���s report, completed in record time, has raised more questions and, by making certain observation, added to the crisis. The advisory council spearheading the now 44-day-old strike has decided against resuming routine.

���Commission has deviated from its mandate. It was supposed to identify the killers but it has resorted to hurling accusations towards all sides,��� Mohammad Shafi Khan, the spokesman of the Majlis, said. ���There is lot of anger and strike will continue���.

Five questions formed the mandate of the commission. Apart from probing the circumstances that led to two deaths, identify persons responsible for foul play, if any, the commission was to offer identities of the accused besides suggesting measures for preventing such incidents and detect the foul play in investigations.

Apart from offering details of how the officials destroyed the evidences by resorting to ���most unprofessional means��� and referring to the rules and laws while suggesting ���remedial measures���, the commission has failed to deliver. Mian Abdul Qayoom, who heads the Kashmir Bar Association, termed it the ���kitchen report���. His colleague Zafar Ahmad Shah, Kashmir���s most prominent lawyer, believes the commission has failed in developing ���an integrated coherent view point which was expected of the commission���.

Commission has left the job of investigating the case for the SIT that, as per the direction of the high court, would now be headed by an IGP. It said it lacked elaborate investigative mechanism that the case demands especially when most of the evidences have been done away with. It did not rule out the possibility of involvement of police but it definitely wants the SIT to probe the family, the brother of Neelofer, one of the victim, and her husband. It also wants a moral check of the victim given the fact that she had eloped to marry.