Jammu: The Army and police on Friday started a major search operation to trace three civilians who went missing while they were on their way to attend a marriage in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district.
Officials said that a massive search operation is underway in the Lohai Malhar area of the Kathua district, where three civilians have gone missing.
“Army and Jammu and the special operations group (SOG) of J&K Police have launched a joint manhunt to locate the missing individuals,” officials said.
The three civilians went missing in the Lohai Malhar area of Kathua after they left home to attend a marriage in the Billawar area. Twenty-four hours after they went missing, there is no clue about their whereabouts with the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
However, the police have ruled out any terror angle in the investigation so far. Locals of the area said the three civilians went missing at around 8.30 p.m. Thursday when a marriage party was going from the Dehota village of Billawar to the Surag village of Lohai Malhar.
Those missing have been identified as 35-year-old Jogesh Singh from Marhoon village, 40-year-old Darshan Singh from Dehota village and 14-year-old Baroon Singh from Dehota village of Billawar Tehsil of the district.
A BJP MLA on Friday raised in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly the issue of the three missing civilians and sought a response from the government.
As the Assembly session began for the day, BJP member Satesh Sharma raised a point of order to inform the House about the missing civilians in the Lohai Malhar area of the Billawar constituency. “I want to inform you about the three missing civilians. We want to seek answers from the government,” Sharma said.
In response, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather said the Question Hour had begun and suggested the question be taken up afterwards.
It must be mentioned that due to the prevailing security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, alarm bells start ringing whenever a civilian goes missing. In the past, many youths who apparently were not connected with terrorism went missing and were later found to have joined the ranks of the terrorists.
It is for this reason that the first thing the police and the security forces have to rule out in missing person cases is whether or not there is a terror angle to such disappearances.
It must be mentioned that three civilians had also gone missing in February from the Kulgam district of the Kashmir Division. These three civilians were also on their way to attend a marriage when they went missing. Three Gujjar and Bakerwal men have been missing for the past three days from the Qazigund area in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
According to family members, the trio — Reyaz Ahmad and Showkat Ahmad of Chandian Pajan and Mukhtar Ahmad of Pratap Pora Lammer — went missing on the evening of February 13 after leaving their homes to attend a wedding at their maternal uncle’s house in Ashmuji Bhan, Kulgam.
Despite contacting all relatives and friends, the families have been unable to trace their whereabouts. “We have filed a missing report at the Qazigund Police Station,” they stated, urging anyone with information to reach the families.
(IANS)
