ISLAMABAD: A leaked audio call between Munish Sharma, an Indian journalist, has featured him asking one of his subordinates to distort facts about the killing of Mukhtar Hussain Shah — a resident of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), who died in police custody on April 27.
The leaked call has exposed Indian brutalities and human rights violations in the disputed valley. In the audio leak, Sharma could be heard directing Balkar Singh from Amar Ujala newspaper, Samba town, about the filing of a news story to cover up the incident. According to Indian media, Shah, was arrested on April 21 for interrogation by the Indian police on suspicion of his links with an attack in the Poonch district in which several Indian soldiers were killed. He was briefly released and then summoned again for interrogation on April 26, but died in mysterious circumstances. Locals of Mendhar, a town in the Poonch district, blocked the road in protest over his death. According to The Wire, an Indian news outlet, the family of a 48-year-old man, who died after being named as a suspect in the Poonch attack case, has dubbed the magisterial probe ordered by the puppet IIOJK administration as an “official cover-up”.
Seeking a judicial probe into the death of Mukhtar Hussain Shah, his family alleged that the order of the magisterial inquiry was “full of discrepancies”. “The order reads like an attempt to cover up the truth. It is a farce. We reject it and demand a judicial probe,” said Rafaqat Hussain Shah, the deceased individual’s brother.
“Rafaqat claimed that there were ‘bruises’ and ‘black marks’ on Mukhtiar’s back and thighs, suggesting that he was tortured in custody. “If he has committed any wrong, let the investigators reveal the facts publicly. Why are they trying to hide the truth?” he was quoted by The Wire. Poonch Senior Superintendent of Police Rohit Baskotra hung up the call when the news outlet sought his comments on the case. Similarly, Poonch Deputy Commissioner Inder Jeet, when contacted, said the matter was not within his jurisdiction now as he had been transferred out of the district. A video on Mukhtar’s phone showed him speaking incoherently and breaking down multiple times while alleging that he, his family, and the neighbours were subjected to torture in the aftermath of the attack.
