Indian soldier attempts suicide after killing three colleagues in IOK
SRINAGAR (KMS) – In Occupied Kashmir, an Indian soldier killed his three colleagues in Udhampur district on Thursday.
A soldier of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Ajit Kumar, opened fired on his colleagues killing three of them at the 187 battalion unit in Battal Ballian area of the district, an official told the media .
The killed CRPF troops were identified as Head Constables Pokermal, Yogendra Sharma and Umed Singh.
Ajit Kumar was also injured after he shot himself and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
Indian troops launch cordon and search operations
In Occupied Kashmir, Indian troops have launched massive cordon and search operations (CASO) in Bandipora and Baramulla districts.
The troops cordoned off Wahab Parray Mohalla and Baniyari areas of Hajin town in Bandipora district and started house to house searches.
The troops also laid siege around Warpora and Kalantara areas of Baramulla district. The troops sealed all the entry and exit points and launched door-to-door searches.
Kashmir shuts against custodial killing
Earlier on Wednesday, normal life was crippled due to a protest shutdown against the killing of a school principal, Rizwan Asad, in police custody at an infamous torture center, Cargo Camp, in Srinagar.
Call for the strike was given by Joint Resistance Leadership and supported by trade bodies and Kashmir Bar Association. All shops and other business establishments were closed while public transport was off the roads in Srinagar and other district headquarters of the valley. Forces’ personnel were deployed in strength in all sensitive areas. Mobile Internet and train services remained suspended in the occupied territory. The 28-year-old martyr, Rizwan Asad, was associated with Jamaat-e-Islami.
The JRL has appealed to all segments of the society including traders, lawyers, Bar Association, civil society and others from different walks of life to peacefully protest, tomorrow, against the custodial killing and assaults on Kashmiris. On Friday after Juma prayers, people at all Masajid, Khanqahs and Imam Bargahs will raise their voice against the custodial killing by NIA and continuing policy of oppression by India.
Meanwhile, thousands of people participated in the funeral prayers of the martyred school principal in Awantipora area of Pulwama district. Amid anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, Rizwan was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in the district. Hurriyat leaders and organizations in their separate statements denounced the killing of Rizwan Asad in custody.
The All-Party Sikh Coordination Committee in a statement issued in Srinagar deplored that no headway had been made in the Chittisinghpora mass killing of Sikhs despite the passing of 19 years. Thirty-five members of Sikh community were killed in disguise by Indian troops in Chittisinghpora area of Islamabad district on March 20 in 2000 on the eve of the then US President, Bill Clinton’s visit to India.
On the other hand, media reports said that Kashmir Scholars Consultative and Action Network, an interdisciplinary group of scholars from various countries and regions engaged in research on the region of Kashmir, in an open letter addressed to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, urged the UN to fulfill its responsibility to mediate a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute. The letter said that the Pulwama incident was the direct outcome of the continuing cycles of violence perpetuated by the policies followed by successive Indian governments in Kashmir.
