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72,218 Kashmiris martyred during last decade

ISLAMABAD: In Indian-occupied Kashmir, 3,116 Kashmiris were martyred in custody.

According to the annual report, compiled by Kashmir Media Service (KMS), 195 Kashmiri's were martyred in the month of December alone. Seventeen of them were victims of savage torture in custody. 848 people were injured and 314 innocent Kashmiris were arrested. Seventeen people were missing in custody. Nine women were disgraced and 63 houses were blasted, by the troops.

The KMS report said that 72,218 people were martyred by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir during the past 10 years. Of them 4,501 were killed in custody.

40,000 people were crippled for life during excessive torture in the period.

Some 7,500 women were disgraced during the period. Some 994,400 houses and shops were destroyed in military shelling. Thousands of Kashmiris are rotting in Indian jails and interrogation centres without legal trial. Kashmiris have been subjected to Indian violence since 1947 but the last decade saw the demon of death and destruction, stalking streets, vales and dales. The death and destruction carried out in this period has no parallel elsewhere.

In a brutal act of vengeance, the troops blasted alive a young Kashmiri youth, Bashir Ahmad at Chaodora, in Bdugam district.

Earlier, he was mercilessly tortured in custody. People of the area held furious demonstration against this savagery and staged a protest sit-in. Intense tension grips the entire area.

Daily business remained suspended in Sopore due to a protest strike against the savage vindictive action by troops following killing of a soldier in Sopore Chowk. The troops carried extensive and violent crackdown in the city, ransacking houses and disgracing women.

The APHC, in a press release in Srinagar said, that victimisation of the people continued in Srinagar following the recent attack on the Task Force headquarters in the city. The ban remained enforced on all movements in the night from Baghaat Barzala to Rawalpura localities. People are not allowed even to go to mosques for Taraveeh and Fajr prayers. Some 48 hours-long crackdown was carried out at Wangpura, in Islamabad (Anantnag) area. People were subjected to torture and women harassed. Youth were taken to military camp at Malikpura, in Islamabad and severely tortured.

The Mujahideen clashed with troops at Malot, in Surankot area of Poonch, killing and injuring a number of them. One Mujahid got martyred. A military vehicle was blasted on Kllar-Pulwana Road, 50 kms from Srinagar and all those on board were killed and injured.

The troops, in vengeance, carried out violent raids on houses, and arrested over a dozen innocent people. A police post was attacked in Udhampur and five policemen were seized and taken away.

A 13-year-old boy was tortured by troops at Waagad, in Budgam area and left bleeding profusely. Four innocent young men were arrested in Srinagar.

A lady teacher, Rashida Begum, was shot dead by Indian armed agents at Daara, in Rajopuri area. In Indian agent was shot dead at Kalakot in the same area. APP