Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, over hundred male and female students and a journalist were injured, today, in Indian forces’ actions on thousands of students, who took to the streets in almost all educational institutions across the territory.
Call for the protests was given by the Kashmir University Students Union against the raid and subsequent torture of Pulwama degree college students by Indian troops on Saturday. Students raising anti-India and pro-freedom slogans marched on all big and small streets in Srinagar, Badgam, Baramulla, Shopian, Kulgam, Gandarbal, Kupwara, Pulwama, Islamabad and Bandipora districts. Police and paramilitary forces resorted to pellet firing and teargas shelling, which triggered clashes between students and men in uniform. Many including female students were injured in the actions. Some female students were fainted, while seriously injured students were hospitalized. The protests and clashes led to a shutdown in Pulwama town. A journalist, Peerzada Wasim, was injured in while covering students’ protests in Sopore.
The All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman, Syed Ali Gilani in a statement issued in Srinagar criticized the human rights organizations for their failure in highlighting the sufferings of Kashmiris in the territory. He lashed out at Indian forces and said that most of these recruits followed fanatical theory and in the garb of uniform carried the agenda of their communal sponsors.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement said that inhumanity demonstrated by the Indian forces had become the order of the day as youth were targeted and killed with each passing day in Kashmir. Senior APHC leaders, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi said that the Indian forces had been given license to kill innocent people.
Meanwhile, complete shutdown was observed for the third consecutive day at Batamaloo in Srinagar, today, against the target killing of a civilian Sajjad Ahmad Sheikh by Indian troops.
The President of Hyderabad-based Maulana Azad National Urdu University Students’ Union, Tajamul Islam in a media interview condemned the killing of innocent civilians by the troops in Kashmir. He urged India to engage with all the stakeholders of Kashmir for a peaceful solution to the long-pending issue.
Congress leader and former Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram in a statement in New Delhi said that every Indian government responded to the challenge by deploying more troops and killing protesters in Kashmir. He said that such muscular policy would not help resolve the Kashmir issue.
The Member of the European Parliament, Amjad Bashir during a meeting with Hurriyet leaders in Islamabad, today, said that he was making his all-out efforts to highlight the Kashmir dispute at the European Union. He was received by the Hurriyet forum Convener, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi
