File photo of security personnel in Srinagar | PTI Photo | Representational image
Ganderbal resident Rashid Ahmed Mughal was killed in an encounter on March 31 by the security forces and branded a 'militant'. Family claims, however, that the commerce postgraduate was a civilian who earned a living helping locals file official papers. The issue has since drawn political attention and an inquiry has been ordered by the J&K Home department.
When 31-year-old Rashid Ahmed Mughal left home in Kashmir’s Chunt Waliwar village in Ganderbal district on the morning of March 31, little did his brother Aijaz Ahmad Mughal know they were seeing him for the last time. Yet, that is how it turned out to be.
The day had started ordinarily enough, recalls Aijaz, a 34-year-old labourer, in conversation with The Federal. “Raashid left home for work around 9.30 am. That was his daily routine,” says Aijaz, adding, “He used to help people with government paperwork.” The commerce postgraduate would, according to his family, help people fill application forms for jobs and Aadhar cards, arranging domicile certificates etc, earning about Rs 3000 a month.
But then, he did not return home in the evening.
Still, at first, Aijaz says, the family — he, his wife and son — did not panic. They tried calling him, but his mobile phone was switched off. Even that did not strike them as unusual. “His phone was old and would often not work,” claims Aijaz. “We assumed he would return in the morning,”
The morning, however, brought a message that devastated the family. And what followed is something, they say, they are still grappling to come to terms with. It also again raked up the issue of alleged fake encounters and extrajudicial killings in Kashmir.
Aijaz says he got a call from the local police station on the morning of April 1 informing him that Rashid had been in an accident and asking him to come over to the station. However, when he reached there, he claims, he was asked to identify his brother’s body.
“The police took me from Ganderbal to the Police Control Room in Srinagar,” claims Aijaz.
He further alleges: “When I saw him [Rashid’s body] from a distance, I couldn’t recognise him. His face had bullet wounds. It appeared that multiple rounds had been fired at him, leaving half of his skull shattered and one of his hands severely damaged; two fingers were missing. It was only when I moved closer that I could identify him as my brother.”
File photo of Rashid Ahmed Mughal. By special arrangement
According to Aijaz, when he asked the officers for information on how his brother was killed, they denied having any knowledge.
After the body was identified, Aijaz claims he was asked to accompany the police team that took the body to north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, nearly 90 kilometres away from Ganderbal, for burial.
“His body was taken there on April 1 and buried by local residents,” he claims. “From arranging the coffin to the burial, everything was done by people of that area.”
The fact that the body was not handed over to the family for burial should have alerted Aijaz to the fact that there was more here than met the eye, but perhaps grief had dulled his senses.
Especially since the abrogation of Article 370, which had granted some special powers to Jammu and Kashmir — and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into the two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh — in 2019, it has not been uncommon for security forces to withhold the body of suspected or alleged militants from their families, and burying them in remote locations far from home, purportedly to prevent large gatherings at the funeral that could act create a sense of victimhood and drawn others to militancy.
Yet, Aijaz says it was not until the following morning, on April 2, that they came to know that the Army had claimed to have killed a militant in an encounter in Arahama, Ganderbal, and that militant was allegedly his brother Rashid.
“But my brother was not a militant; he was a civilian,” claims Aijaz. He adds: “Rashid had been dressed in a khan dress [a traditional costume also known as a pathani suit] when he left home. But when they showed me his body, he was wearing a pair of trousers, a pheran and army shoes.”
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Rashid’s parents are no more, but for the rest of the family — his sibling and others — the tragedy of losing the 31-year-old has been intensified by the circumstances surrounding his death.
The deceased’s uncle, 70-year-old Ghulam Rasool, describes Rashid as a “social worker”, widely known in the area for the work he did in helping people with their official documents.
“Everyone knew him. There are documents in his house showing the work he did. Check his bank records, his work — everything is there. There were no police cases registered against him, and he had never been in jail at any time,” he insists.
Rasool adds: “If he was a militant, why were we never told? Why was there no case, no notice?” According to Aijaz, the family has filed an FIR in the case, but has not received any information yet. “We have been told that legal procedures are ongoing,” he says.
The army has meanwhile claimed that the operation in which Rashid was killed was initiated on the basis of “specific intelligence input” about the presence of militants in the area. In a post on social media platform X, the army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said, “During the night of 31 Mar 26, the cordon was tactically reorganised amidst the intermittent firing underway. Own troops effectively retaliated with calibrated response resulting in one terrorist eliminated.”
In a subsequent post, the Army added: “Based on specific intelligence input, a joint search operation was launched by #IndianArmy and @JmuKmrPolice in the general area of Arahama, Ganderbal. During the search, vigilant troops observed suspicious activity. On being challenged, terrorists opened fire, and own troops retaliated.”
Claiming that an AK-56 rifle, three magazines of cartridges, 67 live rounds and 58 empty AK rounds were recovered from the encounter site, the army also stated that the “militant” killed in the March 31 encounter was later identified as Ganderbal resident Rashid Ahmad Mughal.
Allegations of staged encounters and extrajudicial killings are, however, not new to J&K.
In Pathribal, five people were killed and reportedly labelled “foreign militants” in the aftermath of the 2000 Chittisinghpora massacre of 35 Sikhs. A Press Information Bureau (PIB) statement of 2014 informed that the “CBI had presented a Challan in the Pathribal case before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) cum Spl. Magistrate CBI, Srinagar on 9.5.2006 wherein they indicted 5 Army personnel for these killings”. However, the case was later taken over by the Army and “After examining the evidence contained in the Summary of Evidence, prima-facie case against these 5 Army personnel was not established and the case was therefore closed by Army”.
In 2010, three men were killed in a “fake encounter” in Machil, which saw a rare conviction of five army personnel by a general court martial. In 2017, however, a military court suspended the life imprisonment sentence meted out to them.
File photo of security officers keeping vigil in Srinagar.
Talking to The Federal, Abdul Rashid Lone, a 55-year-old farmer and father of Mohammad Shafi Lone, one of the three killed in Machil, says, “What happened to my son was the destruction of our entire life. We were told he was a militant, but we knew who he was — a simple boy with dreams. That truth was taken from him.” Shafi had been 19 at the time of his death.
Adding that such incidents had become part of a pattern that had continued in J&K for years, Lone alleges, “Today it is one family, tomorrow it is another. We have seen this happen again and again. If innocent people can be killed and then called militants, where does a common man go for justice?”
Despite inquiries and promises of justice in past cases, accountability has remained limited, leaving families with a deep sense of injustice, says Lone, adding, “Until those responsible are held accountable in a real and visible way, such incidents will keep happening, and no family will feel safe.”
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Over the years, human rights organisations have repeatedly raised such concerns.
In its 2026 World Report, international organisation Human Rights Watch stated that “allegations against security forces for arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings were reported through the year” in the region. The report also highlighted concerns over accountability, pointing out that legal frameworks such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act remain in force in Jammu and Kashmir, [potentially] providing security forces with protection from prosecution, even in cases where serious human rights violations are alleged.
“The life and liberty of civilians remain vulnerable as long as those tasked with protecting them operate with impunity under extraordinary laws. Claims of peace and normalcy appear contradictory so long as such legal frameworks continue to remain in force. Such laws also remain an impediment for those who are assigned the job of investigation and enquiry,” Kashmiri political analyst and scholar of human rights and international law, Sheikh Showkat Hussain, told The Federal.
His concern was shared by Yawar Ramzan, a lawyer at the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. Insisting that extrajudicial killings “go against the very spirit of the rule of law and compromise the individual’s right to life, as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution”, Ramzan said any deprivation of life must follow established criminal law procedures, including investigation, trial, and the opportunity for the accused to be heard.
Citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in a 2014 People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) vs State of Maharashtra 2014 case, he noted that the apex court had laid down guidelines for independent investigation into encounter deaths and made magisterial inquiries mandatory. In the interest of justice, Ramzan felt, such cases should be probed by independent agencies, with findings made public to ensure accountability.
Over the years, the issue of alleged extrajudicial killings has also drawn political attention across party lines in Kashmir.
“The Ganderbal encounter must be viewed against the backdrop of Jammu and Kashmir’s long and troubling history of disputed encounters and alleged extrajudicial killings. Laws like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act have become a source of immunity and impunity and such incidents are likely to persist as long as these legal protections remain in force,” claims Waheed ur Rehman Para, MLA from Pulwama and a senior leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Para adds that the PDP has consistently maintained that without reviewing such legal protections and ensuring transparent, time-bound investigations, public trust cannot be restored.
Rashid’s death, too, triggered an uproar at the J&K assembly, with National Conference, Congress and PDP members demanding a judicial probe into the matter.
In a post on X, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “I believe the claim of the family should not be dismissed out of hand. At the very least this encounter needs a transparent & time bound probe with the facts made public. Any attempt to obfuscate or delay the announcement of a probe will only damage credibility & that is not in anyone’s interest.”
In a letter to the district magistrate dated April 2, the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department ordered a magisterial inquiry into the encounter, stating, ““The issue has been examined and accordingly, you are requested to get a thorough and impartial magisterial inquiry conducted into the matter to ascertain the facts and circumstances leading to the death of Raashid Ahmad Mughal.”
The communication added that “the inquiry may be completed within a period of seven (07) days and the report be submitted to the Home Department”.
The Federal has reached both the offices of the senior superintendent of police in Ganderbal and the public relations officer, Defence, in Srinagar, for comment on allegations of fake encounters and extrajudicial killings. The article will be updated when a response is received.
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Meanwhile, far from the political turmoil, locals gathered at the Mughal residence express both anger and fear at his sudden loss.
“If an educated young man, a postgraduate, can be killed and called a militant, then what does that mean for the rest of us?” questions one local, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “What protection do ordinary people have?”
Agrees, another resident of Chunt Waliwar village: “Today it is him, tomorrow it could be anyone.”
All that the family wants now is that Rashid’s body be handed over to them, for burial in his own village. “We do not know if those responsible will ever be punished, but at least give us his body back,” says a family member who did not want to be named.
Incidentally, Rashid’s is not the first unnatural death to have befallen the family. Another of his siblings, Ishfaq Ahmad Mughal, was allegedly killed by unknown gunmen in 2000, at the age of 23. “There was a knock at the door. When we opened it, he was taken outside and shot,” Aijaz recalls. “We don’t know where his body was taken. Nothing was returned to us. Even today, we do not know where he was buried.”
And so, of four siblings, only two remain today, says Rasool.
His mind returning to Rashid, the uncle iterates: “He was not a militant. He was a simple, hardworking boy. He used to sit at a computer and help people — that was his work. Everyone in the area knew him. His life was in front of everyone. There was nothing hidden about him. To call him a militant after his death, we cannot accept that.”
