By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala government has ordered an inquiry into police firing in the northern town of Kasaragod in which an Abu Dhabi-based expatriate was killed.

Mohamed Shafeeque, 22, died on Sunday when the police opened fire during a procession by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

An IUML worker was stabbed to death later in the evening.

Shafeeque, who was on an extended holiday, was to return to Abu Dhabi later this week to join his father M K Musthafa Haji. A resident of Kaithakkad near Charvathur in the southern part of the district, he attended the procession along with his friends.

“We have decided to order a judicial probe, the terms of reference of which will be decided later,” Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said yesterday. “Other things that led to the firing could also be included in the terms of reference.”

Most political parties, including the Congress which heads the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) of which the IUML is the second biggest constituent, had demanded a judicial probe.

The procession was held in connection with a reception given to the newly-elected state president of the IUML, Panakkad Hyder Ali Shihab Thangal, by the district committee of the party.

The UDF meanwhile proposed a four-point charter of demands in connection with the police firing and the government decision on the judicial probe, including that the probe must be conducted by a sitting judge of the High Court or a person in the rank of a sitting district judge.

The UDF has demanded the suspension of Kasargod Superintendent of Police Ramdas Pothen who ordered the police to open fire without observing proper procedures.

“The firing was deliberate and everybody knows the political leanings of Pothen. It was the same person who mistreated (former minister and leader of UDF constituent Communist Marxist party) M V Raghavan. He should be booked for homicide,” Congress leader P P Thankachan said.

A UDF team headed by Janata Dal (Secular) leader M P Veerendra Kumar alleged there were attempts by the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) to give the clash a communal colour.

The CPM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blamed the IUML leadership saying its party workers unleashed violence without any provocation with the support of their leaders.

“Violence erupted a week after the CPM suffered a major blow in by-elections. Only a high-level probe will reveal its role in stoking tensions in Kasargod and Kannur districts,” Thankachan said.