Security personnel guard a post in Srinagar. (file)
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) may hand over the probe into the recent civilian killings in Kashmir to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), security sources said here on Tuesday.
According to sources, the investigation of these killings indicates a certain pattern which leads to the terror angle, hence the investigation can be handed over to the National Anti-Terrorism Investigation Agency.
He also said that the issue was discussed in the National Security Strategy Conference held on Monday, in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah discussed in detail with all the stakeholders.
Another source in the establishment of the government said that the killings of civilians in Kashmir have given a wrong signal and most migrant laborers and non-Kashmiris are leaving Kashmir, creating a sense of fear among the local residents as well.
These gruesome incidents have instilled fear even among Kashmiri Pandits who were ready to return to the Valley at the behest of the government initiative.
The local NIA team is already assisting the J&K Police in the investigation of the murders and trying to identify the mastermind behind these killings.
Sources also said that the central agencies are probing old cases of stone-pelting as the targeted killings have revealed that these killers are not from the cadre of regular terrorists.
Senior officials said, “The investigating agency will take over the cases of Kashmiri Pandit pharmaceutical dealer Makhan Lal Bindru, a non-Kashmiri street vendor from Bihar, Virendra Paswan and other labourers.”
NIA Director General Kuldeep Singh visited Srinagar on Monday and reportedly discussed the situation with other security stakeholders.
Singh, who is also the Director General of CRPF, which is conducting a major counter-terror operation in the Valley, has also directed the force to re-strategise the operation against terror groups in the Valley. So far 11 civilians have died in the last 16 days.
Read more: Amit Shah to visit J&K on October 23, 24 amid spurt in targeted killings
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