By News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Indian forces’ killed three more Kashmiri youths in occupied Kashmir’s Shopian district on Saturday, raising the number of killings of Kashmiri young men in the disputed territory to seven since Thursday.
According to the Kashmir Media Service, the killings occurred during a violent a cordon and search operation in the Amshipora locality of Shopian. The operation was ongoing as the last reports came in.
Just a day earlier, the troops killed three youths during a similar operation in Nagnad Chimmer area of Kulgam district. One more youth was killed by the troops during a military operation in Keran area of Kupwara district on Thursday.
In another development, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) expressed serious concern over the new construction policy approved by occupation authorities in held Kashmir, which they believe could pave the way for the Indian armed forces to grab Kashmiris’ land.
The authorities on Friday approved an amendment to the Control of Building Operations Act, 1988 and the J&K Development Act, 1970 to allow notifying any areas in the territory as “strategic areas” and be handed over to the forces.
Till now, many camps of Indian forces were based in private properties like orchards, houses, government properties and are thus temporary. An entire area can now be designated as strategic which can be taken over and developed for the use of the armed forces and their families.
The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the move was aimed at unlawfully grabbing the Kashmiris’ land and constructing permanent settlements for the Indian soldiers. He said this new policy is part of Modi-led fascist government’s plan to convert the Muslim majority into a minority in the territory.
Separately, journalists held a demonstration in the Tangmarg area of district Baramulla against the hostility of occupation authorities towards journalists in Kashmir. In the latest incident, a photojournalist was assaulted by a government official.
The journalist, Sajad Hameed, who works with the Kashmir Times, said he was performing his professional duty and covering a protest by locals against Public Health Engineering (PHE) department when an official shoved him several times and asked him to close his camera.
Hameed said despite introducing himself as a journalist to the official, he was verbally abused, insulted and pushed. The Tangmarg Working Journalist Association held a demonstration, demanding action against the official.
Meanwhile, a former Indian Army Havildar, who had subsequently joined Defence Service Corps (DSC), died by suicide in Poonch district. The 45-year-old former Havildar, identified as Bashir Ahmed, ended his life by shooting himself with his service weapon. This incident raised the number of such deaths among Indian troops and police personnel in occupied Kashmir to 458 since January 2007.
