Srinagar, February 17, 2018 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, complete shutdown was observed, today, against the shifting of Kashmiri detainees from Srinagar Central Jail to Jammu, staying of an FIR against the Indian troops involved in recent killing of civilians in Shopian by the Supreme Court of India and the brutal killing of a Hurriyat leader, Muhammad Yousuf Nadeem.
Call for the shutdown had been given by the Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. All shops and business establishments remained closed while traffic was off the road in response to the strike. The puppet authorities imposed restrictions in Srinagar by deploying Indian troops and police personnel in strength in the summer capital and in Budgam, Shopian and other towns of the occupied territory to prevent people from holding anti-India protests. The authorities also suspended train service in the Kashmir Valley.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman, Syed Ali Gilani, visited Soura hospital in Srinagar, today, and inquired about the health of ailing Muhammad Yasin Malik. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mufti Nasir-ulIslam and several Hurriyat leaders and activists also visited Yasin Malik at the hospital and prayed for his speedy recovery.
Meanwhile, Indian troops conducted massive cordon and search operations in different areas of Pulwama, Badgam and Bandipora districts, causing huge inconvenience to the people. The troops also used brute force on the demonstrations against the operations. The Indian forces’ personnel vandalized property, thrashed people and arrested five persons from Kareemabad area of Pulwama. The troops arrested five youth from Vessu area of Qazigund, last evening.
A large number of residents of Jablipora in South Kashmir held a protest in Srinagar to demand removal of an Indian Army camp from a playground in their area. Member of the so-called Kashmir Assembly, Engineer Abdur Rasheed, also attended the demonstration. On the other hand, one more Special Police Officer of Indian police has been arrested in connection with the gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, Aasifa Bano, of Kathua district of Jammu region.
A special court of India’s National Investigation Agency has granted seven-day remand of five persons from Pulwama who have been arrested on the charges of abetting the escape of a prisoner from SMHS hospital in Srinagar. In a bizarre development, the NIA after failing to produce substantive evidence against arrested Kashmiri photo-journalist, Kamran Yousuf, in one of the reasons in its charge sheet says that he is not a journalist as he did not cover developmental activities of the puppet regime and statements of pro-India political parties.
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