Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, series of unrelenting student protests marked by clashes and shutdowns continued to sway the length and breadth of the territory, today, against the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by India.
Thousands of students raising anti-India and pro-freedom slogans marched on the streets in Srinagar, Sopore, Shopian, Pulwama, Kupwara and other parts of the territory to condemn ill-treatment meted out to the student community. Due to the clashes between students and troops, shopkeepers in many areas lowered their shutters.
In a latest development, Indian forces killed one civilian and injured dozens others when they opened fire on protesters at Pazgam in Kupwara district, today. The protests were held after forces claimed killing two Kashmiri youth in the area. They were demanding the bodies of the killed youth. Earlier, five Indian army personnel including a captain and a Junior Commissioned Officer were killed in an attack on an Indian army camp at Panzgam in Kupwara district, today
The authorities imposed ban on 22 social media sites, mobile phone messengers and video-uploading sites in Kashmir for at least a period of one month. The ban has been imposed in the backdrop of unending protests led by youth, particularly students, in their teens and early twenties. The banned social media include Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype.
Indian police and paramilitary forces arrested the ailing Chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Aasiya Andrabi along with her associate Fehmida Sofi during a late night raid on her house in Srinagar. The personnel of police and paramilitary broke into the house, smashed doors and windows and arrested the woman leader. She was seriously ill when arrested and her condition in the police custody has been stated to be alarming.
APHC General Secretary Shabbir Ahmad Shah and the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyet forum in their statements criticized anti-democratic policies of India and its stooges against the Kashmiris. They denounced the arrest of Aasiya Andrabi and other Hurriyet leaders. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq visited Iqra Bashir and other injured students at SMHS hospital in Srinagar and inquired about their health.
Meanwhile, students of Jamia Milia Islamia held a protest in New Delhi to express solidarity with the people’s resistance movement of Kashmir and to condemn raids on students in academic institutions of the territory.