Indian forces kill five more in Held Kashmir [The Nation] 17 Aug, 2016
SRINAGAR - Indian security forces shot dead five people and wounded another 20 during protests in Indian-occupied Kashmir on Tuesday, according to witnesses and security sources.Four people were killed in Aripanthan village after residents took to the streets to protest what they said were aggressive tactics by members of the Indian security forces during an overnight patrol designed to enforce a curfew.
One resident said one protester was killed immediately after members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) opened fire and another three died of their injuries.A further 12 protesters were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The identities of the four who died were not immediately known but all were young men.Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security official confirmed to AFP "a patrol party fired on the protesters. Four have died".Another protester was shot dead in Larkipora village in south Kashmir after residents clashed with paramilitary troopers, according to witnesses.A senior police officer in the region and witnesses told AFP that forces fired live rounds during the protests that also left eight people injured.The latest casualties came as security forces opened fire with automatic rifles, a step up from their earlier use of shotguns, whose pellets are meant to incapacitate but not kill.Locals say the shotguns have inflicted severe injuries, and even blinded, hundreds of people, among them innocent bystanders.The deaths come a day after a total of nine people were killed in a series of clashes and gunbattles across the region, including a commander of the CRPF which is an Indian paramilitary police unit.Indian authorities have imposed a curfew in large parts of Kashmir since July 9 during an upsurge in violence sparked by the killing of a top militant commander called Burhan Wani in a gunfight with security forces.More than 60 civilians, mostly young men, have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces, and thousands more injured in the region's worst violence since 2010.In a speech on Monday, Modi accused Pakistan of committing atrocities in its own province of Balochistan, escalating a war of words that Islamabad said was intended to divert attention from the troubles in Indian-held Kashmir.Parrikar comparesPakistan to ‘hell’Modi's defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, raised the temperature further on Tuesday, saying Indian troops had "sent back five terrorists yesterday".He told a rally, "Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell."Meanwhile, Amnesty International denied Tuesday its staff made anti-nationalist comments at one of its events on disputed Indian Kashmir after the rights group was slapped with sedition charges.Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore filed the initial charges against Amnesty on Monday following complaints that event participants called for independence of the volatile Kashmir region.Sedition charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, have been used previously against supporters of independence for Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.The case comes at a particularly sensitive time, with large parts of Indian-held Kashmir under curfew following weeks of deadly violence between protesters and security forces."No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point," Amnesty International India said in a statement on Saturday's event in Bangalore."The focus of the event was squarely on allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir."Rights campaigners have long accused New Delhi of using the British-era sedition law to clamp down on dissent, although convictions are rare.The charges come as foreign charities are under intense pressure in India, with the government saying last year it has cancelled the overseas funding licences of around 9,000 non-governmental organisations in a major crackdown.The complaints were lodged with police by a Hindu nationalist student organisation, some 200 of whose members staged protests outside Amnesty's offices in Bangalore."We want the organisers and those who raised anti-India slogans to be arrested and jailed," student organiser Prem, who uses one name, told reporters, as police dragged scores into buses and vans to break up the rally.Bangalore police said they were probing the complaint and studying footage of the event at the city's United Theological College to identify those who shouted "anti-India" slogans."We have booked a case of sedition and rioting under various sections of the Indian penal code against Amnesty on a complaint that anti-India slogans were raised at an event it organised," deputy police commissioner TR Suresh told AFP.In an earlier statement, Amnesty said police had been invited to monitor Saturday's event, at which Kashmiri families spoke of alleged abuses of relatives by security forces."The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India," Amnesty International India chief Aakar Patel said.Published in The Nation newspaper on 17-Aug-2016
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