On 13th April 2015, Army personnel claimed to have shot dead a militant in an encounter in Tral. It turned out, however, that the 24-year old victim, Khalid Muzaffar, was a civilian, not a militant, though his brother is a militant. The killing has all the appearances of being a custodial killing, done in full knowledge that the victim was not a militant. Again, the AFSPA acts as a shield for such killing by Army personnel.

Protests erupted against this killing, and leaders of the protests were arrested on the pretext that they were leading anti-national protests. We can imagine the impact on the ordinary Kashmiri, when they see cold-blooded killings of their youth projected as acts of nationalism, while protests against such killings are branded as anti-national. Such an approach only reinforces the alienation and isolation of Kashmiris.

In a peaceful protest demonstration against the arrests of the leaders, police firing claimed the life of yet another youth this time a 16-year-old boy, Suhail Ahmed Sofi. The boys uncle has said, The police officer took my nephew aside and then shot him point-blank as we watched.�

The police have admitted that the firing was in violation of SOP (standard operating procedure)� and have arrested two policemen for the same. But the police is yet to admit that the killing was premeditated and a cold-blooded custodial killing.