Protest against custodial killing of civilian in occupied Kashmir
SRINAGAR: People staged a protest demonstration against custodial killing of a civilian by Indian police in the occupied Kashmir.
According to local media, Manzoor Ahmed, 30, was subjected to brutal torture by Indian police in the custody of Special Operation Group.
As a result, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the extrajudicial killing. The demonstrators pelted stones on the police too.
On the other hand, Indian police personnel subjected demonstrators to heavy lathi charge and excessive tear-gassing.
Protest against custodial killing of civilian in occupied Kashmir was first posted on May 19, 2009 at 10:15 pm.
President Zardari Statement Welcomes: Omar Abdullah
HANDWARA: Acknowledging Sajjad Lone as a potent force in Baramulla parliamentary constituency, Held Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he wished that Sajjad should have contested on NC ticket.
“I welcome Sajjad into the mainstream camp. I wish he would have talked to us before announcing his decision to join the election fray,” the Chief Minister told a gathering of around 5000 people at Chinar Park in Handwara on the last day of campaigning for the Baramulla parliamentary constituency.
Omar said had Sajjad taken the decision of contesting elections earlier, the lives of scores of people would have been saved. “Had he announced to contest polls 10 years ago, the number of graves in the graveyards of Kashmir would have been less,” he said.
The Chief Minister said he stands by the announcement of his father and NC president Farooq Abdullah that the assembly will be dissolved if all the pro-freedom leaders join the election fray. “I stand by what my father had said,” he said.
Omar welcomed Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent statement that India was not the enemy of the country. “I want the new government in New Delhi to offer a hand of friendship to Pakistan and resume the stalled dialogue process,” he said.
The chief minister said that vote for PDP will be vote for L K Advani and rightwing BJP. “I want a party in power at New Delhi that would strengthen Article 370, promote communal harmony and brotherhood. And I believe that party is Congress as BJP is hell-bent to scrap Article 370 and create a communal divide across India,” he said.
President Zardari Statement Welcomes: Omar Abdullah was first posted on May 12, 2009 at 3:02 pm.
Police Contests Army’s Claims on Terrorists killed: Jammu and Kashmir
Kupwara: The claims by the Army having neutralised a maximum number of militants, who sneaked into Kashmir recently, have been hotly contested by the local police who have picked up trails of militants and the FIRs registered showing only 25 being killed.
Notwithstanding the recent claims of Brigadier General Staff of 15 Corps Gurmeet Singh that 32 militants had been killed and that there were only two infiltration bids since March, the figures with the local police have a different story to tell as they have spotted fresh batches in so far as Ganderbal and Bandipore areas of North Kashmir are concerned.
As per the statement of a local militant who surrendered along with Syed Moinullah Shah, a group of 120 militants, launched by the Hizbul Mujahideen’s Imtiyaz Alam, entered into Kashmir valley through Kel (Neelum Valley) and reached Bunar forest into Gurez through Naushera and Nad areas in North.
Though Army claimed that 12 militants of the group were killed in an avalanche while nearly 82 others had returned, the FIR registered by the Army showed only one unidentified militant was killed. There is no FIR, a mandatory procedure after gunbattle, of the 11 other militants that the Army claimed to have killed.
Army declined to give any clarification and there were no replies to questions mailed to Col JS Brar, spokesman for Srinagar-based 15-Corps, despite repeated reminders.
The Army’s claim that it had arrested Shah, a resident of Dhir district of North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, had loopholes as the FIR numbers 70/2009 and 71/2009 in Gurez area of North Kashmir show that Shah along with a local militant — Iabal Dajeo, a Bandipora resident — had surrendered after being pressurised by the police.
Later, the Army took over Shah’s custody as he was a foreign militant and left the local militant with the police. Shah was paraded before the media in last week of April but the press interaction was cut short after he spilled the beans that he had not been arrested but had surrendered.
About the number of terrorists, the Army claimed that 56 militants had infiltrated into the Valley since March 20, out of which 32 had been killed, one arrested and 17 were still at large. Six were believed to have been buried in an avalanche.
However, the facts registered with various police stations in Kupwara, Bandipore and Tanghdar districts show a different figure in which the causality was only 25 which included death of three terrorists because of extreme cold conditions.
Police Contests Army’s Claims on Terrorists killed: Jammu and Kashmir was first posted on May 10, 2009 at 6:48 pm.
APHC Urges Kashmiris to Boycott Indian Polls
SRINAGAR: In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has urged people to totally boycott tomorrow’s Indian Parliamentary polls last stage.
The Hurriyet leader addressing a public gathering here said he hoped that Kashmiris would boycott the so-called elections. He said India wanted to divert the attention of the international community from the Kashmir dispute.
Kashmiris boycotted the previous three phases of Indian polls that resulted in low turnout.
APHC Urges Kashmiris to Boycott Indian Polls was first posted on May 9, 2009 at 1:31 pm.
