SRINAGAR – Indian troops have killed three Kashmiri youth in Shopian district of the illegally occupied valley of Kashmir, the local media reported on Friday.
The youth were killed by the troops during a violent cordon and search operation at Badigam area of the district. The Indian media, meanwhile, reported the death of a Special Police Officer (SPO) of Jammu and Kashmir Police during the ‘encounter’ between the occupational forces and Kashmiri people.
On the other hand, Indian troops continued their cordon and search operations on second day in different areas of Pulwama and Budgam districts, the Kashmir Media Service reported.
The killings come at a time when a delegation of envoys including those from several Europe Union countries and a few member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) paid a visit to the Jammu and Kashmir to take a first-hand account of the inhumane lockdown of the disputed Himalayan territory.
According to a last year’s report by the Legal Forum for Oppressed Voices of Kashmir, at least 65 civilians were killed “extra-judicially,” meaning in staged gunfights.
Pakistan has always strongly condemned the killings of innocent Kashmiris, demanding an international investigation for all “extrajudicial killings” in the heavily militarized Indian-administered Kashmir.
According to the International Forum for Justice Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, a total of 474 people, including 232 suspected militants and 177 Indian troops, were killed from Jan.1 to Dec. 30 last year.