Rare candour: Indian army admits ‘mistake’ in killing Kashmiri teens

Military commander promises transparent investigation into the deaths

NEW DELHI: The Indian army has admitted it made a mistake in shooting dead two teenagers in Indian-administered Kashmir this week, a rare public admission of fault by the military.

The teenagers died after soldiers fired at a car on the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday, while another youngster was critically wounded.

“We take responsibility for the death of the two boys in Kashmir,” the chief of the army’s northern command, Lt-Gen D S Hooda, told reporters in Srinagar late Friday. “We admit a mistake was made... there was some information about a white car with terrorists. Obviously, the identity was mistaken,” he added.

Hooda promised an investigation into the deaths that would be conducted with ‘the highest standard of transparency’.

Anger has been mounting in the scenic Kashmir Valley over the killings, with the families of the dead youths rejecting the army’s offer of $16,283 as compensation.

“The blood of my 14-year-old son is not so cheap that I would barter it. I reject this compensation,” Muhammad Yousuf Bhat, one of the boys’ fathers, was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the latest killings had marred the political atmosphere, already strained by the devastating floods. “Such killings have no place in an otherwise improving security environment where militancy incidents are at record low levels,” Abdullah tweeted this week.

Human rights critics accuse Indian security forces  of committing frequent rights abuses while fighting insurgents. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2014.