Kashmiri women attend the funeral of 19-year-old Rayees Ahmad Ganie of Narpora in Shopian district, on Wednesd... Read More

NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR : The Army on Wednesday asserted that its soldiers had only opened “controlled fire in self-defence” after issuing enough warnings to the violent mob pelting stones on its convoy at Shopian in south Kashmir on Saturday, which left three civilians dead and seven soldiers injured.

The Army on Sunday had filed a “counter-FIR”, detailing how four of its vehicles that were separated from the 16 others in the administrative convoy were surrounded and attacked by violent protesters, in response to the state police lodging an FIR charging a Major and other personnel from the 10 Garhwal Rifles battalion with murder and attempt to murder under the Ranbir Penal Code for the incident at Ganwapora Chowk .

“We have done our internal inquiry. The soldiers responded after being provoked to the ultimate. It was an act in self-defence and to protect government property,” Northern Command chief Lt-General Devraj Anbu said on Wednesday, amid a political slugfest between coalition partners People’s Democratic Party and BJP in J&K.

“A generic FIR should have been filed by the police… I think they have prematurely put the name of an individual ( Major Aditya ) in it. The FIR is an initial step and the investigation is yet to commence,” he added.

The Army, in fact, contended that Major Aditya, who was leading the administrative convoy, was quite some distance away from the site where the firing occurred on Saturday. “He was with the 16 other vehicles that were separated from the four vehicles surrounded by the over 200 stone-throwing protesters,” an officer said.

The junior commissioned officer (JCO) in charge of the four vehicles fell unconscious after being hit on the head by a stone while he was trying to reason with the protesters. “The mob even tried to lynch the JCO and snatch his weapon, and extensively damaged the vehicles despite warnings. Given the extreme gravity of the situation, the soldiers had no recourse but to open fire,” the officer said.

“It was a desperate situation. The usual norm is to fire below the waist… but the civilians who got hit above the waist could have been bending down to pick up stones,” he added.

Apart from lodging an FIR in the local police station, the state government has instituted a magisterial inquiry and sought a report within 20 days.

While agreeing to the magisterial probe, BJP MLAs have demanded withdrawal of the FIR against soldiers on the ground that it would demoralise the forces fighting terrorism. The CM has, however, rejected the demand.

