On December 12, the largest circulated newspaper in Srinagar, Greater Kashmir, carried a public notice released by the office of the deputy commissioner of Pulwama district of South Kashmir. The notice listed the names of 106 victims of death, injury and damage to property. Ex-gratia relief was announced for the families of 70 of them.
At serial number 9 on the list was the name of Khalid Wani, the elder brother of Burhan Wani, the Hizbul Mujahideen commander who was killed by security forces in July. Burhan’s death triggered months of unrest in Kashmir.
While Burhan had left home at the age of 15 in October 2010 to join the Hizbul Mujahideen, his brother Khalid lived in Tral in Pulwama district with his family. The 25-year-old was pursuing a Masters degree in Political Science from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
On the afternoon of April 13, 2015, he told his mother he was going for a picnic. Hours later, his body was found in the nearby jungles.
The army claimed Khalid had been “operating as an overground worker” for the Hizbul and was killed in an encounter. But his family refused to accept the army’s claims. Locals alleged Khalid Wani had been killed because he was Burhan’s brother. Most believed he was followed by the army because they suspected he was meeting his brother.
Twenty months later, the government’s announcement of relief for Khalid’s family settles the controversy surrounding his death, and appears to invalidate the army’s claims. The vital condition for granting compensation is that the dead person should not be a militant.
Not a militant
The ex-gratia relief entitles a victim’s family to a payment of Rs 4 lakh, or employment for a member of the family, said Muneer-ul-Islam, the deputy commissioner of Pulwama.
Khalid’s father Muzaffar Wani, a school principal at the Government Higher Secondary School of Lorigam told Scroll.in that he was not aware that the government had announced ex-gratia relief for his son. “I have not seen the notification,” he said.
Muzaffar Wani added that he had not applied for the relief. “Two months after Khalid’s death, I was called to Awantipora police station,” he said. “The police wanted to exhume my son’s body to conduct an autopsy. I refused because they [the police] did not carry it out when he was killed.”
All he did was present a statement about his son’s killing to the investigating officer. In the statement, he reiterated that Khalid was a civilian and not an overground worker of a militant outfit.
“My son was innocent. He would not leave home for night outs,” he said. “Not a single case had been registered against him.”
Muzaffar Wani alleged his son was tortured and killed in the custody of the security forces. “Khalid’s teeth were broken,” he said. “There was no bullet mark on his body. His head was hit by some object.” He submitted photos showing the torture marks on his son’s body.
“I would not take money from the government for my son’s killing,” he said. “But I will think over [whether to accept] a job for my younger son.”
Muzaffar’s youngest son is studying in class 12.
Corrections and clarifications: This story has been edited to remove an error that misstated the number of people cleared for ex-gratia relief.
