Scores injured after Indian forces attack protestors in Srinagar
The protesters raised high-pitched slogans like "We want freedom", "Go India go back."
SRINAGAR (Web Desk) - Scores of people were injured when Indian troops and police used brute force against thousands of protesters in Srinagar, Kashmir Media Service reported on Saturday.
Defying stringent curfew, thousands of people including women, children and elderly persons gathered in Soura area of Srinagar soon after Juma congregational prayers, yesterday, and protested against New Delhi’s action of abrogating special status of the occupied territory.
A police officer confirmed that there were around 10,000 people at the protest in Soura.
The protesters raised high-pitched slogans like “We want freedom”, “Go India go back” and “Indian Constitution unacceptable”. Indian troops and police pushed back the demonstrators at Aiwa Bridge by firing bullets, pellets and teargas shells resulting in the injuring of many people.
Some women and children even jumped into the river when the police used teargas and pellets against the protesters at the Aiwa bridge.
Moreover, the BBC correspondent, Geeta Pandey, who travelled for two days around occupied Kashmir, has painted a grim picture during her visit. She wrote that Khanyar is the heart of Srinagar city but to get there, they passed through half a dozen road blocks.
She said, “As we come across yet another barricade, I get out of my car to take some photos. A few men emerge from a laneway to complain about living under what to many feels like a siege. “This is extreme thuggery on the authorities’ part,” says an elderly member of the group.”
ARRESTS
A police officer, who requested anonymity since he is not authorized to speak to the media, said that political detentions in the wake of the Modi government’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s special rights were continuing.
“Over 500 people are now arrested since Sunday,” he said, including former chief ministers, ministers, lawmakers and leaders and workers from political parties and separatist groups.
On the other hand, Pakistan has downgraded diplomatic ties with India and suspended trade in anger at its latest move.
On Friday, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said China was gravely concerned about the situation in Occupied Kashmir, the cause of two of three wars between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
Wang met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Beijing and assured him that China would continue to support Pakistan to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
With inputs from Reuters
