SRINAGAR In occupied Kashmir, the eight-month military siege, now coupled with curfewlike restrictions, which India has imposed in the garb of preventive measures against the spread of coronavirus, has added to the miseries of the hapless Kashmiri people. The restrictions have created a shortage of daily commodities especially lifesaving medicines, putting the lives of patients at high risk. Drug distributors in Srinagar told media men that lifesaving drugs were not available and the supply had been badly affected particularly during the past two weeks. The continued curbs on internet have also adversely hit mental and physical health of the Kashmiri people. Hurriyat leaders and organizations including Farooq Ahmad Tawheedi, Islami Tanzeem-e-Azadi and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League in their separate statements in Srinagar paid glowing tributes to the martyrs of Kulgam, Kupwara and other Kashmiri martyrs and denounced India for massacring innocent youth with each passing day. They also denounced the introduction of a new domicile law by India saying it was meant to change the demographic composition of Jammu and Kashmir. Thousands of people continued to pour in for the second consecutive day to attend the funeral prayers of the Kashmiri youth martyred by Indian troops in south and north of Kashmir over the past few days. Hurriyat leaders and organizations including Farooq Ahmad Tawheedi, Islami Tanzeem-eAzadi and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League in their separate statements in Srinagar paid glowing tributes to the martyrs of Kulgam and Kupwara and denounced India for massacring innocent youth. Meanwhile, as many as eight Indian soldiers including a Junior Commission Officer were killed and many injured in an attack during an ongoing military operation in Keran area of Kupwara district. The troops continued cordon and search operations in Awaoora, Kumkadi, Zurhuma, Safawali, Batpora and Haihama areas of north Kashmir. The family members of the Kupwara martyrs demanded the dead bodies of their dear ones, who were killed by Indian troops during the days long operation in the district. Two Indian soldiers committed suicide by shooting themselves with their service rifles in Bandipore and Samba districts of the occupied territory. These two incidents of suicide raised the number of such deaths among Indian troops and police personnel in occupied Kashmir to 449 since January 2007. AP Maheshwari, the Director General of India’s largest paramilitary force, the Central Reserve Police Force, along with 200 other personnel has gone on quarantine on the suspicion of being positive for coronavirus. The CRPF’s Chief Medical Officer has also been tested positive for the deadly virus. So far, 4,067 confirmed cases have been reported in India while the Indian Health Ministry has said that 109 people have died due to the coronavirus.—KMS
