Indian troops martyr three youth as curfew enters in 74th day in IoK

SRINAGAR (92 News) – Indian troops in their fresh acts of state terrorism martyred three Kashmiri youth as military siege, worst curfew and communications lockdown in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) has been entered 74th successive day, today. According to the KMS, Although the voice call service on post-paid mobile phones has partially been restored, yet the situation is far from normal. Mobile internet and broadband as well as about two million phones using prepaid SIM cards continue to remain suspended due to curfew. Shops in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley usually open only for a couple of hours in the morning and evening to restock supplies, keeping shutters down during the day. Public transport continues to remain mostly absent and only private vehicles and those with special permits can be seen on the roads. Offices remain almost empty and there are virtually no students in schools and colleges which reopened recently. Many believe that the continued shutdown is due to popular anger at India’s Aug 5 unilateral action, comparing it to a campaign of civil disobedience. The youth were killed in a fake encounter by the troops during cordon and search operations in Pazalpora area of Islamabad district. The martyred youth have been identified as Nasir Chadro, a resident of Arwani, Aaqib Ahmad Sheikh of Redwani and Zahid Ahmad from Bijbehara. A day earlier, in Occupied Kashmir, a large number of women protesters, including the daughter and the sister of former puppet chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, were detained in Srinagar during protests against the revocation of Kashmir’s special status. Women carrying placards had gathered at the Pratap Park near Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and as they started protesting, the police swooped in on them and detained over a dozen women. Farooq Abdullah’s sister Suraiya Abdullah, his daughter Safia Abdullah Khan and Hawa Bashir, wife of former Chief Justice of IOK High Court, Bashir Ahmed Khan are among those detained in Srinagar.