Indian troops martyr two youth in IHK

SRINAGAR: Indian troops martyred two youth in Held Kashmir’s Sopore district Friday. They were martyred during a violent cordon and search operation in the district. The Indian occupation forces also suspended internet service and shut down educational institutions in the Baramulla district.

On Thursday Indian troops forces had martyred two youth in Kupwara district during a cordon and search operation. Earlier this year in June, a United Nations report accused India of having used excessive force in occupied Kashmir to martyr and injure civilians since 2016 as it called for an international inquiry into the accusations of rights violations. The first UN report on human rights in IHK focuses mainly on serious violations in the region from July 2016 to April 2018.

Activists estimate that up to 145 civilians were martyred by security forces and up to 20 civilians martyred by armed groups in the same period, it said. In responding to demonstrations that started in 2016 Indian security forces used excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries, the report said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad Al Hussein called for maximum restraint and denounced the lack of prosecutions of Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir due to a 1990 law giving them what he called virtual immunity.

In a statement, Zeid called for a commission of inquiry by the Human Rights Council which opens a three-week session in Geneva Monday into all violations. Alleged sites of mass graves in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu should be investigated, he added.

India rejected the report calling it a selective compilation of largely unverified information that sought to build a false narrative, adding that it violated the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.