Indian Army kills four more Kashmiris; death toll 64

SRINAGAR: In Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) the Indian troops martyred four more Kashmiri youth in the Kupwara district on Tuesday.

The troops killed the youth during a siege-and-search operation in the Nawgam area of the district. The operation was in progress till the filing of the report.

The Indian Army alleged that the youth were militants and were killed in an encounter with the troops. One young man was arrested while an Indian soldier was killed in the same area.

Meanwhile, the occupation authorities continue to impose curfew and restrictions in the occupied Kashmir on the 18th consecutive day on Tuesday to prevent people from staging demonstrations against the killing spree, unleashed by the Indian forces.

According to the puppet government authorities, curfew would continue without any relaxation in Islamabad, Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama districts while restrictions would remain in force in parts of Srinagar, Sopore and Kupwara.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army attacked a locality in south Kashmir’s Bijbehara town, where a prominent author-cum-journalist lives with his parents, for his article in which he exposed the puppet Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s doublespeak.

The author, Murtaza Shibli, in a statement said the attack was carried out as an act of revenge for his article.

“A day after I published an article dissecting (puppet) Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s display of crocodile tears for the families of those slain by her own forces, an unruly group of police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) attacked our locality,” Shibli wrote on his Facebook page.

The article exposing Mufti’s face was published in the leading Srinagar daily Kashmir Reader and The News (Pakistan).

“Few hours after my story was published, I heard from some sources that the local unit of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), headed by Mufti, was enraged and wanted revenge. Mufti, like her father, is very concerned about her public image and has invested millions to circulate falsehoods and manipulations through an army of media consultants, PDP affiliated newspapers and journalists,” he added.