The identity of the witnesses has been kept a secret. The single man inquiry commission led by District Magistrate Shopian Bashir Ahmad Bhat recorded their statements to look into the causes of firing incidents on September 7 and September 11 that led to the killing of five persons.

“I was very much optimistic that people will come forward to disclose any detail that they have about the incident and today it happened. I cannot share the details with media as of now. Let us complete the probe first. The facts will come to fore,” Mr Bhat said.

Sources said the identity of the witnesses has been kept a secret to avoid a repeat of 2009 Shopian rape-and-murder case of Asiya and her sister in law Neelofar Jan in which a number of witnesses and lawyers were turned into accused during the trial and framed under different charges which included destruction of evidence.

None of the witnesses had turned up to record the statement in the first three days since the inquiry began. As strict curfew was enforced in the town and people were not allowed to venture out. However on the third day of the enquriy authorities relaxed curfew at 3:30 PM and five witnesses appeared to record their statements.

Bhat said the government has extended the deadline by five days due to the situation in Shopian town which has remained ceaselessly under curfew since the first firing incident on September 7 when the CRPF personnel of 14th Batallion killed four youth outside their camp at Gagran.

“The deadline has been extended by five days,” he said.

The Shopian killings triggered protests in Kashmir valley following which curfew was clamped in many towns of south Kashmir areas.

Following public outrage, a magisterial probe was ordered by the State cabinet into the killings on September 12. However the veteran Huriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and most of the locals in Shopian rejected this probe and alleged that it is just a time-consuming matter by the Government, we have seen such probes in past also.