Indian troops kill three more youth in IHK

Aim guns at journalists in Srinagar; massive anti-India rallies held; UN urged to force India to abandon illegal occupation in IHK

SRINAGAR: Indian forces killed three more young Kashmiris on Sunday as thousands of people raising pro-freedom and anti-India slogans participated in rallies held across south Kashmir, including Pulwama, Shopian and Islamabad districts.

The Indian troops, in their stepped-up state terrorism, martyred three youth in the Tangdhar area of Kupwara in Indian held Kashmir on Sunday. The army claimed that the youth were killed during an encounter in the area.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, rallies were held in Parigam, Chitragam and Dailgam areas of the districts. People travelled on trucks, buses, cars and walked on foot to attend the rallies. The marchers also waved the Pakistani flags on the occasion. Religious scholars from all schools of thought and Hurriyat leaders and activists, including Ghulam Nabi Sumji, Mir Hafizullah, Mohammad Yousuf Fallahi and Mohammad Yousuf Mir, addressed these rallies.

The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik in a joint statement had appealed to all pro-India politicians, activists, lawmakers, panchs and sarpanchs to resign and join people’s movement for freedom. The leaders also asked the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to take concrete steps to save lives of innocent Kashmiris in the territory.

Meanwhile, Indian authorities continued to impose curfew and other restrictions in the territory for the 44th consecutive day on Sunday. The authorities sealed all entry and exit points leading to the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar.

The troops did not spare even journalists and aimed guns at the staff members of Srinagar-based Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Uzma in Srinagar. The journalists were harassed, abused and given life threats.

A prayer leader was ruthlessly beaten up by the troops in Kupwara.An anti-India rally, led by the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir People’s Freedom League Muhammad Farooq Rehmani, was held in Muzaffarabad on Sunday.

The participants of the rally urged the United Nations to force India to abandon its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.Meanwhile, Greater Kashmir’s senior correspondent Abid Bashir along with Kashmir Uzma senior correspondent Bilal Furqani and another staffer Shafqat Ahmed were stopped by SSB men at the TRC crossing near the Radio Kashmir building.

“They shouted at us and asked us to go back. We told them that we are journalists and showed them our curfew passes. They became more furious and refused to entertain the curfew passes. They aimed their guns at us,” the terrified staffers told media persons after the incident. “It was only after I called a senior police officer that we were let off,” they added.

This is not the first time that journalists have been targeted by the Indian armed forces personnel during the ongoing uprising.In occupied Kashmir with no let-up in curfew and other restrictions on the 44th consecutive day, at least 80 people including women were injured by bullets and pellets fired by the Indian troops on peaceful protesters in the territory yesterday.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, the troops did not even spare an elderly couple and shot them at Tral in Pulwama while an eight-year old boy sustained grave pellet injuries in his chest when police fired at him from point-blank range in the Nawabazar area of Srinagar.

The couple was grievously injured when troops fired on them at their house in Tral after they tried to resist the arrest of their son. The injured have been identified as Abdul Qayoom Butt, 85, and his wife Nazeera, 80, the parents of Mufti Mujahid Shabbir Falahi, former Jamaat-e-Islami’s District Secretary, Pulwama.

At least 15 other people were injured when forces during nocturnal raids ran amok in the Devsaqr area of Kulgam and thrashed the inmates. One of the youth Showkat Ahmad who was mercilessly beaten up by the forces was referred to hospital in a critical condition. Doctors say that Showkat has grievous head injuries.

In Pampore, doctors and paramedics held protests in hospital premises after an ambulance driver was thrashed by Indian paramilitary personnel in Tengpora-Batmaloo in Srinagar. The driver, identified as Nisar Ahmad Mir of Kunibal-Pampore, was back from the SMHS hospital after dropping patients.

Massive pro-freedom rallies continued throughout South Kashmir even as curfew remained in force in all the major districts and towns for the 44th day. Bike and car rallies were also held across South Kashmir.