Machil fake encounter: Political pressure behind sluggish probe, says Geelani

Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference(G) chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Monday said that political pressure in the wake of the army’s involvement and a “faulty” judicial system were responsible for the sluggish pace of investigations  into last year’s Machil fake killings.
“A year has passed, but the court has failed to reach any conclusions regarding the killing of three Machil youth in a fake encounter by the army. After the case was unearthed, the relatives of the murdered youth and the entire Kashmiri nation had hoped that the cruel murderers would be brought to the book in a court of law, but one year on not only has the court failed to reach any conclusion the killers too, it appears, are being helped out by some invisible hand,” Geelani said.
Flaying the slow probe into the killings, Geelani said it amounted to “justice delayed is justice denied.”
“No court can compensate the sufferings of the three slain youths’ families during this time,” he said.
Geelani said that because the army’s involvement in the killing had been exposed, besides “ a faulty judicial system”, political pressure cannot be ruled at a reason for the slow pace of investigation.
“Had this case been handed over to some independent and impartial international agency, the guilty would have been brought to the fore within some weeks,” he said.
Geelani also flayed the government for failing to solve the muder and rape case of a Handwara girl, Tabinda Gani, even after four years following the incident.
He also condemned the arrest of a Badipora youth, Mohammad Ismal, under Public Safety Act, saying chief minister Omar Abdullah was trying to arrest youth in the race for proving more loyal than the king.