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Two inquiries initiated into Marwah firing

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah said the authorities were conducting two inquiries into the Marwah firing on January 30.

While the army was conducting an inquiry, the state government had initiated another.

"The guilty," Dr Abdullah assured, "will be punished."

The Eid day incident in Doda district's Marwah village had seen around 15 'panicked' army soldiers opening fire, killing 9 villagers on the spot and injuring 40.

Earlier, Dr Abdullah, who returned to Srinagar after an election tour, had airdashed to Marwah along with state police chief Gurbachan Jagat. The chief minister met the villagers and assured them of his support. He said the government would bear the entire expenses for treating the injured, and, in addition to the Rs 100,000 ex-gratia relief, provide a government job for one member of each victim's family.

"Everybody is sad about the incident," the chief minister said, adding, "Militancy is going to ruin us in one way or the other unless we totally eliminate it."

Pakistan, Dr Abdullah went on, was pushing in militants by the dozen, but the army was doing a 'good job'. He appealed to the militants to 'give up arms and return to the mainstream'.

"Anybody leaving the gun will be accepted with an open heart," the chief minister said.

Pointing to the Wandhama carnage and the burning of the shrine at Tral in south Kashmir in December, Dr Abdullah said such attempts were being made by 'our enemy' (Pakistan) to create communal divide.

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