1 more shot, J&K says CRPF ‘out of control’

A rattled Omar Abdullah government today said the CRPF was "out of control" and "lacking command" after another youth was killed reportedly in firing by the paramilitary force in Sopore. This was the third death in action by security forces in this town since Friday.







Calling the death "unwarranted", the state government called a press conference attacking the CRPF and urging the Union Home Minister to visit Kashmir and rein in the force.







A local football player, 21-year-old Bilal Ahmad Wani was killed when CRPF men allegedly fired towards a group of people, mostly children, outside a clinic in the evening. Wani was hit in the throat by a rubber bullet, while another was wounded. A daily wager employed with the Public Health Engineering Department, he was the only son of a manual labourer and has three unmarried sisters.







There have been protests in Sopore over the killings of civilians by security forces in recent days, and Omar had called a meeting of his Cabinet and top officers, including the Director General, CRPF, yesterday where it was stressed that civilian deaths wouldn't be tolerated.



At a late-night press conference today, National Conference minister Ali Mohamamd Sagar publicly admitted the state government's helplessness in "controlling" the CRPF men. "The firing by CRPF men today was totally unwarranted. The CRPF has gone out of control... We are alienating people," he said.







Sopore Superintendent of Police Altaf Ahmad also called the CRPF action unwarranted. He also asked why, despite instructions, CRPF men went on their own without police.






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