Srinagar, April 19: Kashmiri separatists formed a 10-member committee comprising chairmen of both factions of the Hurriyat Conference to probe the killing of prominent Jammu and Kashmir cleric Moulvi Showkat Ahmad Shah.
The committee, formed after a meeting of several leading separatist outfits at the head office of Shah-led Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadees here, includes Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and JKLF Chief Mohammad Yasin Malik.
Other members include Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shiekh Mohammad Hassan, acting president of the Jamiat Ghulam Rasool Malik and Shia leaders Moulvi Abbas Ansari and Aga Syed Hassan, general secretary of the Jamiat Abdul Rehman Bhat, who is also a member, told PTI after the meeting.
He said the terms of reference for the committee are to establish contact with the United Jehad Council (UJC), an amalgam of militant outfits based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), and to peruse the evidence available with the state police in connection with Shah’s murder.
“We have nothing to say about the police investigations at the moment but we would like to see the evidence (available) with police to check its veracity,” Bhat said.
He said no time frame has been fixed for the completion of the unofficial probe into the killing.
“We only want to unravel the truth and we would like to know it sooner than later,” he said.
Shah, the chief of Jamiat-e-Ahli Hadees, was killed in an IED blast on April 8 at Maisuma as he was about to enter a mosque to lead Friday prayers.
Three persons have been arrested, including the chief of radical outfit Sautul Haq (voice of truth), in connection with the killing.
Police has claimed that the conspiracy to kill the religious leader was hatched by Abdullah Ghazali, president of Sautul Haq, with Ashiq Faktoo alias Dr Qasim, who is currently serving life imprisonment in Central Jail here.
Police claimed the conspirators had got material help from Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Abdullah Uni to carry out the attack.
–PTI