Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops, in their fresh act of state terrorism, martyred one more Kashmiri youth in Handwara town, today.
The troops killed the youth during a siege and search operation in Hingnikoot Ramhal area of Handwara. Reports from Pulwama district said that Indian Army and police personnel had jointly conducted a search and cordon operation at Khan Mohalla Aaripal in Tral, today. All entry and exit points were sealed and a house-to-house search was started in the area.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference in a statement issued in Srinagar demanded release of all illegally-detained Hurriyat leaders and activists before Eidul Azha. It said that the puppet Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, had facilitated the Indian National Investigation Agency’s raids and arrest of Hurriyat leaders including Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Peer Saifullah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar, Merajuddin Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Devender Singh Bahal and several traders. The APHC appealed to the world human rights organizations to use their influence for immediate release of all the Kashmiri detainees.
The Hurriyat forum led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement in Srinagar said that the Kashmiri people would not tolerate any attempt to damage or harm the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. It vowed to oppose tooth and nail any move aimed at changing the demography of the territory.
Kashmiri traders staged a protest demonstration in Srinagar against India’s plans to abrogate Article 35A of the Indian Constitution. The protesters tried to march towards Governor’s House in Srinagar, but police used brute force to prevent the march and arrested several of them.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai addressing a press conference in Washington stressed the need for peace between Pakistan and India to settle the Kashmir dispute. Former Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry on the occasion warned that criminal silence by the world powers over gruesome human rights abuses by Indian occupational forces in Kashmir had given New Delhi a license to kill innocent Kashmiris. KMS
