Newscraving Desk:
Srinagar,
Several civilians received pellet and bullet wounds while three rebels were killed in an overnight gunfight between the government forces and the rebels in southern Kashmir area of Pulwama on Friday.
Acting on a tip, the government forces last night laid a cordon and search operation in the Kakapora area of Pulwama and in the ensuing gunfight three local rebels were killed. During the day youth hurled stones on the forces which were repulsed by police through use of pellet shotguns. Several people were reported to have been injured in the clashes, but police have said that 4 were wounded including a woman who received a bullet wound. Three others were injured in the pellet firing, said a police official.
Several people were injured while three rebels were killed in an overnight gunfight in Kashmir
Kashmir police chief, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Vijay Kumar, said that two out of three rebels killed in the overnight gunfight had carried out an attack on a BJP leaders house in Nowgam area of Srinagar on Thursday in which a police man was killed. On Thursday rebels attacked the cop who was posted on guard duty at the house of a BJP leader in Srinagar and also took away his weapon.
The three rebels killed in the gunfight were local residents of Pulwama. A police official identified the rebels as Junaid Ahmad Nengroo resident of Prichoo Pulwama, Suhail Nisar Lone and Yawar Ahmad Wani both residents of Khrew Pampore. They had joined the rebel ranks only few months back, he added. The police official said that the rebels used a vehicle to travel to Pulwama from Srinagar after carrying out an attack on a BJP leader’s house.
He said that the last rites of the rebels were carried out several miles away at Baramulla in Kashmir. The police have been denying burials of the rebels in their home towns fearing anti-India protests.
He said that as the government forces had lifted the cordon and some youth resorted to stone pelting and the crowd was “dispersed by using non-lethal weapons” .
Human rights activist, Ahsan Untoo, however said that the number of injured was higher and questioned the use of pellet guns. ” The pellet guns have left thousands already blind and wounded, yet the forces are continuing with their use. There is no sense of relief for a common Kashmiri despite the director general of military operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan deciding to hold fire along the Line of Control (LoC). The space for political opinion has shrunk in Kashmir and excesses by government forces have increased,” he said.
India and Pakistan have fought four wars over Kashmir and the the two countries were close on the brink of another war after a Kashmiri rebel killed at least 50 paramilitary force personnel in a car-driven explosion on a busy Srinagar-Jammu highway that connects Kashmir with rest of India in 2019.
On 5 August, 2019, India scrapped Kashmir’s semi autonomous status and shut the internet and phone services for months evoking strong protests across the region.