Kashmir issue: Indian troops martyr 16 Kashmiris in August

Martyred sixteen Kashmiris including a young boy and a woman: KMS

SRINAGAR (Web Desk) - In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops, in their continued acts of state terrorism, martyred sixteen Kashmiris including a young boy and a woman during the past month of August.

According to the data issued by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service, the killing rendered a woman widowed and three children orphaned. During the period, four hundred and sixty seven people were injured in the firing of bullets, pellets and teargas shells on protesters by Indian troops. As many as eleven thousand one hundred and thirty five people including Hurriyet leaders, Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir Bar Association President Mian Qayoom, activists and youth were arrested. Fourteen women were disgraced and thirty one residential houses were damaged by the troops.

Meanwhile, life remained paralyzed in the Kashmir valley and five districts of Jammu region for the 28th consecutive day, today, due to unprecedented curfew and communications blackout imposed by the Indian government. The Kashmir valley is cut-off from the rest of the world since August 05 when India revoked special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Internet, mobile and landline services are dead and TV channels are shut since then. Local newspapers failed to publish their print and online editions. Shops and business establishments remain closed and schools, too, are empty of students amid the authorities’ claims that they had opened the primary, middle and high schools in the territory.

The people are facing acute shortage of essential commodities including food, milk and life-saving medicines due to curfew and communications blockade. The US-based newspaper, The Wall Street Journal in its report has said that the clampdown in Kashmir by India has turned hospitals into graveyards. It added that the military lockdown and communications blackout have prompted a health crisis in the territory.

A report by Kashmir police confirmed that more than 300 incidents of protests took place over the past three weeks, with Srinagar topping the list with over 160 such incidents. Around 22 protest incidents took place in Pulwama and 18 in Baramulla, the police report said. On August 17, the Valley recorded 24 protests, the highest number in a single day.

The relatives of an Indian soldier, Veera Mani, from Tamil Nadu staged a protest in New Delhi to demand the return of his body, reportedly killed in an encounter in the Kashmir valley. The protest proves that Indian army is reluctant in sending the bodies of its slain soldiers back home fearing severe backlash.