ISLAMABAD - Indian troops in their continued acts of state terrorism have martyred seven Kashmiri youths in Tangmarg and Nowgam areas in last two days, Kashmir Media Service reported Friday.
One Indian soldier was also killed while two others were injured during clashes with the mujahideen in these areas.
Bodies of three youth including Ishfaq Ahmad Lone and Meraj-ud-Din Butt were recovered from the debris of a house destroyed by the troops with mortar shelling at Khunchipora in Tangmarg area of Baramulla district. Another youth was killed by the troops during continued siege and search operation at Toot Maar Ghali in Nowgam area of Kupwara district. Earlier, an Indian soldier identified as Havaldar Hangpang was also killed in an attack in the same area.
In occupied Kashmir, people also staged forceful demonstrationsyesterday to protest against India’s plans to construct separate colonies for retired Indian soldiers and Kashmiri Pandits, harassment of Jammu Muslims and Delhi’s so-called Industrial Policy in Kashmir.
Call for holding of the demonstrations was jointly given by top pro-freedom leaders, Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik.
People took to the streets in Srinagar, Badgam, Ganderbal, Palhallan, Pattan, Tangmarg, Baramulla, Handwara, Kupwara, Sopore, Bandipora, Islamabad, Tral, Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian and other areas and shouted pro-freedom, pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans.
Pakistani flags wer waved during the protests. Indian police fired teargas shells and pallets to disperse the demonstrators at different places injuring several people. The police also arrested dozens of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front activists when they were taking out a protest rally from Maisuma towards Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
The occupation authorities continued to put Hurriyet leaders and activists including Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Yasmeen Raja, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Syed Bashir Andrabi, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza, Javaid Ahmed Mir, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Muhammad Ramzan Khan and Shakeel Ahmad Butt under house arrest or behind the bars. The action was aimed at preventing the leaders from leading the protests.
Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Zafar Akbar Butt in their statements said that observance of complete shutdown by the people of occupied Kashmir, yesterday, should serve as an eye-opener for New Delhi and its collaborators in the territory. They said that the protest would continue until the Indian government completely shunned its dangerous anti-Kashmir plans.
Uproarious scenes were witnessed in the so-called Kashmir Assembly, today, over various issues including the puppet administration’s failure to provide justice to the girl who was molested by an Indian soldier in Handwara town, last month.
Kashmir has been divided between arch-rivals Pakistan and India since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.
Several freedom fighters have for decades fought hundreds of thousands of Indian forces deployed in the restive territory, demanding independence or merger of the Muslim-majority region with Pakistan.
The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.
Overall violence in the disputed region has sharply declined during the last decade, but this month has witnessed an uptick in armed encounters, leaving six members of the security forces, two civilians and 15 freedom fighters dead.
