SRINAGAR: Mehbooba Mufti resigned as the CM of Indian-administered Kashmir as forces killed three more young men in Pulwama district.
Clashes broke out after Eid prayers on Saturday in Srinagar with Indian police and paramilitary forces firing tear smoke shells and pellet guns at hundreds of protesters throwing rocks at them near the main Eidgah prayer ground.
Mufti resigned as the CM of Indian-administered Kashmir after her coalition partner, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), pulled out of the ruling alliance on Tuesday. “The muscular policy will not work in Kashmir,” she said, referring to the policies of the Indian government led by PM Narendra Modi.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Indian soldiers killed the Kashmiris during a siege and search operation in Tral. They also blew up the house of another Kashmiri using explosive material. Earlier, a Central Reserve Police Force officer and a soldier of the Indian army were injured in an attack in the same area.
Thousands of people showed up at the funeral prayers of one young man, Aijaz Butt.
Protests have broken out after the killings. According to residents, Indian forces used civilians as human shields during the clashes. They are observing a shutter-down strike, with mobile phone networks, internet and rail networks suspended. The killings of young Kashmiris comes at a time when the restive valley recently mourned the death of a veteran journalist, Shujaat Bukhari. Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle shot the editor of the English language daily Rising Kashmir from close range when he was leaving his office in Srinagar Thursday evening.
The chairperson of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, said that innocent youth, including 13-year-old Waqas Ahmad and Sheeraz, were killed even on Eid day.
A delegation of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat also visited the houses of Waqas and Sheeraz at Nawpora in Pulwama and Bragpora in Islamabad, respectively, to offer condolences and solidarity.
Tehreek-e-Muzahamat chairperson Bilal Ahmed Sidiqui said in a statement that the use of brutal force on peaceful protests on the occasion of Eid reflected the frustration of the Indian forces.
Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) chairperson Zafar Akbar Butt condemned black laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
India’s BJP quit the ruling coalition in disputed Kashmir on Tuesday where violence has worsened in recent months.
The Hindu nationalist party had ruled in the restive state since March 2015 when it struck an unlikely alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a local political outfit which has advocated more autonomy for Kashmir.
“It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir,” Ram Madhav, the party’s general secretary, told reporters. AFP