Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference has said that Indian troops pick up innocent youth from their homes, kill them in staged encounters and label them as terrorists to malign the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom struggle.
The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the latest example of the phenomenon was the extrajudicial killing of three Rajouri labourers in a fake encounter in Shopian.
Indian Army on July 18, 2020 claimed of killing three “unidentified militants” during a cordon and search operation in Amshipora area of Shopian. However, the victims later proved to be three labourers, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Muhammad Ibrar, from Rajouri district of Jammu region. Days later, the slain youth were identified by their families through the pictures released by the Indian Army and said that they had gone to the Kashmir Valley in search of work. The Indian Army later admitted that the youth hailed from Rajouri and even DNA samples of the victims and their family members matched with each other.
The APHC spokesman said Indian troops are engaged in the genocide of innocent Kashmiris and the Shopian fake encounter reflects the war crimes being perpetrated by them in the occupied territory.
Spokesman pointed out that Shopian episode is not the first such incident. He added that such gruesome acts by the troops have come to the limelight from time to time in the past also and Pathribal fake encounter of 2000 and Machil fake encounter of 2010 are the most prominent ones.
He demanded an impartial investigation into all incidents of killings by Indian troops in IIOJK through an impartial international agency to bring the perpetrators to book.—KMS
