Pakistan on Thursday registered a protest with the Indian Foreign Office in Islamabad over the killing of Zia Mustafa, a Pakistani civilian prisoner, in the Pir Panjal valley’s Poonch Sector . “The Indian Charge d’Affaires was summoned to the (Pakistan) Foreign Office today and a strong protest was lodged on the reported killing of a Pakistani civilian prisoner Mustafa, who was in Indian custody since 2003,” a Pakistan government spokesman said. He said Islamabad urged the Indian government to undertake a .
“The Government of India was urged to urgently authenticate this particular incident, undertake a credible and transparent investigation into it, ensure justice, and hold the perpetrators to account,” the spokesman said.
He said the reported killing of the prisoner, under mysterious circumstances at a location away from the prison where he was interned, “was not only intriguing but also raised serious questions about the well-being, safety and security of Pakistani prisoners in India”.
The spokesman said in the past as well, Pakistani civilian prisoners in India have been found dead under inexplicable circumstances. “Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of the dastardly Indian practice of extra-judicial killing of Pakistani and Kashmiri prisoners in fake encounters,” the spokesman said.
According to the J&K police, Mustafa, a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, was taken to Bhata Durian for identification of terrorist hideout during the ongoing operation, which has been underway for more than two weeks now, on October 25.
During the search, terrorists opened fire on the joint team of police and Army personnel in which two policemen and an Army jawan sustained injuries. Later, Mustafa’s body was retrieved from the encounter site, the police said.
Mustafa was facing a trial in the killing of 24 Kashmiri Pandits in Pulwama's Nadimarg in 2003 and was considered the “mastermind” of the massacre.
