MUZAFFARABAD, March 24: The chairman of Muttahida Jihad Council and supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin, on Monday strongly condemned the killing of 24 Kashmiri Pundits and blamed the Indian agencies for the gruesome incident.

“The latest of the series of such incidents is imitation of the Chattisingpura massacre, which was later proven to have been carried out by the Indian army to defame the freedom movement,” he said in a statement here.

At least 36 Sikhs were killed in cold blood on the outskirts of Srinagar on the eve of the then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India.

The MJC chief said the Hindu community, which had not migrated from held Kashmir, was supporting the freedom struggle, and India was trying in vain to confront them with the Mujahideen by carrying out such ghastly incidents.

Recalling the killing of Hizb battalion commander Kuldip Kumar alias Akhtar by the Indian army in an encounter in Udhampur on March 19, he said members of the minority communities were being killed by the army for their affiliation with the freedom struggle.

He said the recent disclosure by a former occupied Kashmir minister, Dr Mustafa Kamal that the Indian army was involved in the Chattisingpura massacre was enough to establish that New Delhi itself was masterminding and executing such incidents.

“The Mujahideen groups strongly condemn the massacre of Pundits and express their heartfelt sympathies with the bereaved families. It is not their but our loss as well,” Mr Salahuddin said.

“We also reiterate our demand that an independent probe should be held under the auspices of the United Nations to unearth and expose the perpetrators of such heinous crimes,” he added.