Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, complete shutdown was observed across the territory, today, against the cold blooded murder of a youth and ruthless beating of students by Indian troops in Srinagar and Pulwama districts. Call for the strike was given by the joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. All shops and other business establishments were closed while traffic was off the road. The Indian troops had shot dead the 19-year-old boy, Sajjad Hussain Sheikh, in Batamaloo area of Srinagar, when he along with a group of friends was passing from the area, yesterday.
Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik condemned the killing and termed it a brutal and barbarous act and an attempt to muzzle the voice of Kashmiris. Syed Ali Gilani asked India to stop singing the mantra of democracy and humanity as its army had crossed all limits of humanity in the occupied territory.
APHC General Secretary, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and other Hurriyet leaders in their statements also expressed deep grief over the killing of the youth and said that Indian forces were carrying out genocide of the Kashmiris to quench their thirst for blood. Shabbir Ahmad Shah questioned the silence of the international community over the perpetration of serious crimes against humanity by Indian army in the territory.
A Hurriyet delegation led by Farooq Ahmad Tawheedi visited Chadoora and Charar-e-Sharif areas in Badgam to express solidarity with the families of the youth, martyred by Indian forces during the polling for sham parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Kashmir University Students Union in a statement in Srinagar while condemning the attack on students of Degree College Pulwama called for protests against the brutal act, on Monday. The college students who were subjected to ruthless beating and torture by Indian troops told media men that the troops came from the back of the college building, barged into classrooms and started beating them with gun butts and boats. The injured students while lying on hospital beds in Srinagar said that many of their colleagues fell unconscious due to severe beating. Some students even received pellet injuries in their eyes and faces.
On the other hand, resistance leaders including Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Shabbir Ahmad Shah continued to remain under house arrest in the territory.