Srinagar, Nov 24 (Asia Free Press): The killing of young Kashmiris in the Indian administered Kashmir continues as Indian forces shot down three more youth in an encounter near the capital city of the disputed Himalayan region.
According to local media, in the latest onslaught, Indian forces targeted three young students during the so-called “cordon and search” operation in the Rambagh area of the Srinagar city.
Two slain have been identified as local youth Manzoor Ahmad s/o Sana Ullah Mir and Mehran Shalla, while the third one is yet to be identified, Free Press Kashmir, a local online outlet, reported.
However, to cover off its action, Kashmiri police, in a statement, said they carried out the operation on a tip-off about the presence of armed fighters in the Rambagh area of the city and asked them to surrender after cordoned the area, but they fired indiscriminately.
“In the brief shoot-out, three unidentified militants were killed,” the police said.
Inspector General Police of Kashmir Vijay Kumar confirmed to local news agency Kashmir News Observer that Srinagar police killed three rebels at Rambagh.
“Operation is over in the area,” he said.
However, the locals rejected the claims made by police and said that the troops murdered local young boys.
“Police stopped a Santro car on the road and took out three boys who were travelling and shot killed them on the spot,” a local resident told AFP on condition of anonymity as Indian forces did not allow locals to speak with media.
“We were there, and no one resisted, neither they had any arms,” he added.
Soon after the incident, locals gathered near the spot and staged a protest against the Indian forces for killing innocent boys.
The crowd also shouted pro-freedom and anti-police slogans.
In a video that got viral on social media soon after the incident, wailing women can be seen saying, “they witnessed a group of policemen firing on them”.
Last week, the Indian troops also killed eight innocent Kashmiri civilians, including a well-known businessman in the Hyderpora area of Srinagar.
Kashmiri police claimed to have killed four militants; however, later, their claims were proved wrong when the victim families staged a protest and accused Indian forces of killing innocent people.
Later, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu Kashmir Manoj Sinha also ordered an inquiry to investigate the alleged encounter and kill four innocent people, including the businessman.
Since Oct. 1st, this year, Indian occupied forces killed at least 40 people in “extra-judicial” killing in the valley.
While the Indian forces have killed over 100,000 innocent people since 1990, it is the only Muslim majority region.
