Bloodbath as Indian forces kill 15 Kashmiris

Ag APP

HELD SRINAGAR/ISLAMABAD: Indian troops have killed 15 Kashmiri youths within a 24-hour-period, an alarming escalation in bloodshed in the occupied region that has been at the receiving end of a military siege for more than nine months.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, in a violent cordon and search operation in Saimoh locality of district Pulwama on Tuesday, two more Kashmiri youths were slain by Indian forces. As usual, the authorities suspended internet service in the area.

Just a day earlier, the troops killed 13 Kashmiri youths — 10 during a savage military operation in Mendhar and other villages of Poonch district — while three were gunned down in the Nawshehra area of Rajouri district.

The intensifying violence prompted a sharp rebuke from Pakistan. The Foreign Office on Tuesday strongly condemned the “extra-judicial killing of 13 Kashmiris in a single day” by the Indian forces which indicates “intense brutalisation and continuity of crimes against innocent Kashmiris”.

“Pakistan is deeply concerned over unabated extra-judicial killings of Kashmiri youth in fake encounters and so-called ‘anti-infiltration’ operations. While the international community is pre-occupied with fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, India is busy intensifying its brutalisation of the Kashmiri people,” the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a press release.

The fact that 13 Kashmiris were extra-judicially killed in a single day spoke volumes about the Indian government’s continuing crimes against humanity. To hide these crimes, the Indian authorities use the oft-repeated, unsubstantiated allegations of “training” and “infiltration” of Kashmiri resistance fighters.

“India must realise that its malicious propaganda carries no credibility with the international community. The RSS-BJP combine stands exposed before the world for its illegal and inhuman actions and extremist ‘Hindutva’ agenda,” the press release added. Pakistan once again called upon the international community to take immediate steps to stop India from committing serious crimes against the Kashmiri people and hold it accountable under international law and relevant human rights conventions.

India must realise that neither could its brutalisation break the will of the Kashmiri people, nor could its anti-Pakistan propaganda divert attention from India’s state-terrorism and egregious violations of human rights in held Kashmir, the Foreign Office added.

“The martyrdom of each Kashmiri would further fortify the Kashmiris’ resolve for freedom from Indian occupation. Kashmiris will never give up their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the UNSC Resolutions and the leadership and people of Pakistan will never flinch in their commitment of full support for the Kashmiris towards that end,” it further stressed.