IOK lockdown on 119th day haunts daily life

HELD SRINAGAR: Unrelenting lockdown and military siege continued in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) to haunt the daily life of the Kashmiri people on 119th consecutive day on Sunday.

The continued suspension of internet, prepaid and SMS services are forcing the Kashmiris to quit jobs in prestigious institutions across the world. Besides, the internet gag is also depriving them of the opportunity to attend international conferences and apply for fellowships offered by institutions of global repute, reported the Kashmir Media Service.

In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops in their unabated acts of state terrorism martyred seven Kashmiris during the last month of November.

According to the data issued by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service, during the month, eighty two people were critically injured in the firing by Indian troops on peaceful demonstrators in the occupied territory. Sixty-five civilians, mostly youth and political activists were arrested. The troops damaged three houses during cordon and search operations. The authorities did not allow Friday prayers at historical Jamia Masjid in Srinagar since August 5.

Meanwhile, a court in Srinagar granted bail to Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, Javaid Ahmed Mir and some other Hurriyat leaders in a 21-year-old fake case, registered against them in 1998 for organising a march towards UN office in Srinagar. Syed Ali Gilani and Muhammad Yasin Malik could not be produced before the court as they are in custody.

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement Chairman, Mir Shahid Saleem in a statement issued in Jammu condemned the authorities for forcibly preventing a peace march of different civil society groups against the lockdown in the territory. He said that the Indian government had suspended all fundamental political and democratic rights of the Kashmiri people.

Kashmiri students studying in Uttarakhand, India, while speaking to media complained that administrations of colleges and universities are penalising and harassing them for reporting late. The students asked how they could leave homes for their educational institutions amid curfew and lockdown imposed by the Indian authorities in occupied Kashmir since 5th of August when India revoked Kashmir’s special status.

On the other hand, senior Congress leader, Salman Khurshid addressing an event in New Delhi said that abrogation of Article 370 would have adverse impact on the region. He said, “It is a very wild imagination to think that Jammu and Kashmir can be integrated with India through the abrogation of the Article 370.