Indian-held Kashmir: Another death amid unrest

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Indian-held Kashmir

Massive pro-Independence demonstrations continued on Sunday in Indian-held Kashmir for the 65th consecutive day while another Kashmiri civilian died Sunday from wounds suffered in a earlier protest.

Javaid Ahmad, 23, was wounded on Aug. 5 and succumbed to his injuries at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

“He had lost a lot of blood. His leg had been damaged by the bullet beyond repair and we had to amputate it. But then he suffered a renal failure and succumbed today,” Medical Superintendent of SKIMS, Dr Farooq Ahmad Jan, told Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, over 150 people were wounded by Indian forces as pro-independence protests went on in the south Kashmir despite a curfew imposed by the Indian government and an overwhelming number of Indian armed forces, including the Army, that had been deployed.

According to a senior doctor in the Pulwama district hospital, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on the condition of anonymity, more than 100 injured were brought to the hospital on Sunday morning from the village of Kareemabad in south Kashmir, 18 of them were seriously wounded.

So far, at least 78 civilians have been killed by Indian forces and, according to data from various hospitals across the state, more than 10,000 civilians have been wounded, many of them permanently maimed and blinded.

The current unrest was triggered by the killing of a Kashmiri militant commander, Burhan Wani, by Indian forces on July 8.

Meanwhile, according to the Indian Army, four militants and a policeman were killed in two separate clashes in the region Sunday.

Army spokesman Col. N. N. Joshi said that the clashes occurred in the northern Kupwara district early on Sunday and resulted in the killing of four militants.

A policeman was killed in a separate incident when a gunbattle broke out between militants and Indiam forces in the Poonch district.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.

The two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.

Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in IHK have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict so far, most of them by the Indian Armed forces. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed regions.