Indian troops force Kashmiris to chant Hindu slogan

ISLAMABAD: The Indian troops on Tuesday barged into HMT area of Srinagar, dragged civilians out of their houses, charged them with batons and forced them to chant “Jai Shri Ram” slogan.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, the troops entered the held territory in the middle of the night and thrashed dozens of civilians mercilessly in HMT area of

the city. Several people received multiple injuries in the forces’ action.

Former chief minister of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, while strongly responding to the brutal action of Indian troops, said: “Forcing innocent civilians with batons to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ seems Indian government’s vision of ‘integrating’ IIOJK into India now”.

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Mehbooba said: “Army personnel drag civilians out of their homes in the middle of the night, thrash them with batons & then force

these innocent men to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’”.

A resident of Aban Shah locality in the HMT area, Bilal Hussain, told the media men that Indian troops thrashed the residents for nearly an hour. “We were not allowed to scream or even raise our heads up,” he said.

“An Indian Army officer walked up to me and said ‘Bol, Jai Shri Ram’ (chant Victory to Lord Ram, a rallying slogan for Hindu nationalists),” recalled Hussain. “[But] I screamed in pain then he shoved his gun in my mouth.”