SRINAGAR
In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops have intensified cordon and search operations across the territory to suppress the Kashmiris’ freedom movement and to stop them from raising voice against the recent antiKashmir moves of the Modi government. The troops and sleuths of National Investigation Agency have arrested several youth during military operations and house raids in Srinagar, Badgam, Islamabad, Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara, Kishtwar, Doda, Bhaderwah, Rajouri and other areas. The main objective behind these operations is to create a sense of fear among the masses. The residents of these areas told media that the troops barge into their houses, thrash the inmates and vandalize their properties. The NIA alone has arrested four people including a woman and her father from Srinagar and Pulwama areas during the last few days. Meanwhile, the residents of Kashmir Valley continued to face severe hardships due to unrelenting military siege on 216th consecutive day, today. The Kashmir Press Club in a statement issued in Srinagar strongly condemned the harassment of two photojournalists by Indian police in Pulwama district. Two cameramen, Qayoom Khan and Qaisar Mir, were stopped by the police when they were covering a raid by the NIA in Hakripora area of the district. The police also snatched away their cameras and mobile phones and returned the same after several hours. Qaisar Mir said that he was used as a human shield by the troops during a cordon and search operation at Babgund in Pulwama on 29th February. The Jammu and Kashmir Islami Tanzeem Azadi in a statement issued in Srinagar urged India to realize the ground reality, give up its intransigence on the Kashmir dispute and come to the negotiation table to settle it through peaceful means. On the other hand, one civilian was killed and another injured when an unknown person lobbed a grenade towards a bunker of Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force at Maharaj Gunj in Srinagar. Unidentified gunmen shot dead a youth in Tral area of Pulwama. In Geneva, Kashmiri representative, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, addressing the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council said that the Modi government’s unilateral illegal decision to repeal Kashmir ’s special status on 5th August, 2019, was against the UN resolutions and international law. He said that the Kashmir dispute should be resolved in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions on the subject. Thousands of people held protest rallies in Kabul and Herat cities of Afghanistan and in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka against the state-sponsored brutalities being committed against Muslims in India and occupied Kashmir.—KMS
