*SRINAGAR: *Burhan Nazir Parrey, 16, had a gaping wound in his shoulder thesize of a cricket ball, the latest victim of what Kashmiris say isindiscriminate brutality by Indian forces.
He is one of the lucky ones. Locals accuse Indian security forces of beingresponsible for four deaths since New Delhi stripped Indian-occupiedKashmir (IOK) of its autonomy and imposed a crippling lockdown on August 5.
Parrey said he went out for a walk with a friend on the evening of August 6and turning a corner ran into members of the paramilitary Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF).[image: In this photo taken on September 6, 2019, Sara Ali (L) sits withrelatives as she holds a medical report for her six-year-old granddaughterMuneefa who was injured in one eye after allegedly being hit with a marblefired by an Indian paramilitary soldier using a catapult in Srinagar.PHOTO: AFP]
One put the barrel of a pellet-firing shotgun gun to his upper body and“fired a shell right into my right shoulder”, the teenager said.
Then one of the soldiers “put his boot on my shoulder and pushed the shellfurther inside”, he said. “Another tried to crush my neck. I thought theywanted to see me dead right there.”
Only when some women started shouting did the soldiers leave and neighbourstook Parrey to hospital.
According to his father Nazir Ahmad, doctors located “more than 400pellets” in his torso. Medical records seen by AFP showed that “multiplepellets and one plastic canister” were removed.
CRPF Inspector General Zulfiqar Hassan said there was “no report or recordof this incident” but would launch an inquiry – if the boy filed a report.[image: In this photo taken on September 6, 2019, Burhan Nazir Parrey, 16,sits with bandaging on his shoulder a month after he says he was shot witha pellet-firing shotgun by an Indian paramilitary soldier at point blankrange in Srinagar. PHOTO: AFP]
Despite restrictions on movement that were reinforced this week, there havebeen hundreds of protests and stone-throwing incidents.
According to multiple sources, several thousand people have been detained.They include almost all the region’s top politicians – without charge.
The internet and mobile phones also remain cut off in the Kashmir valley,the main trouble area. UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Monday she is“deeply concerned”.
Last month AFP spoke to relatives of three people they alleged have died asa result of the actions of security forces, including a mother-of-two aftera tear gas canister smashed through her window.
On August 25 the governor of IOK, Satya Pal Malik, said there had not beena “single case of killing” in the previous 10 days.
The same day police said that a truck driver was killed on August 25 afterbeing hit by a stone hurled by protestors.
Last week Asrar Khan, 17, became the latest fatality when he died inhospital on September 3, a month after being seriously injured.[image: Kashmiri civilians are stopped at a checkpoint during heavyrestrictions on movements in Srinagar on September 10, 2019, on the 10thday of the holy month of Muharram. PHOTO: AFP]
Khan was playing cricket near his home in Srinagar on August 6 whensoldiers fired at him, said his mother.
“A CRPF vehicle stopped near the edge of the park and fired a tear gasshell straight at his head,” Shaheena said as she cried in her home,supported by other women.
“I saw him fall and then they (soldiers) fired pellets on him.”
Senior army officer Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon toldreporters on September 4 that Khan was hit by protestors throwing stones.
Khan’s hospital records, seen by AFP, showed he suffered “severe traumaticbrain injury” and cited “pellet injury with shell blast injury” as thecause of death.
On Saturday India appeared to row back on Dhillon’s statement, saying thecause of death was a “hard and blunt object” – but without saying what.
Khan’s angry father Firdous Ahmad, showing a photo and X-ray of his son’sface, said Dillon was “lying” and there were no protests the day he washurt.
“My son will not come back, but I want the world to know the truth and seewhat is being done to our children in Kashmir,” said Ahmad. -APP/AFP