Indian forces targeting Kashmiri youths by painting them as terrorists: FM Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi lamented on Monday that Indian forces are committing atrocities against innocent Kashmir youths by targeting them in staged encounters.

In a statement, he said: “Those killed in fake encounters are painted as terrorists and fake cases are registered against them.” Indian army is spreading fear among unarmed Kashmiris through oppression and hegemony, he added.

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The foreign minister pointed out that the world has now become aware of Indian designs, adding Delhi’s control over illegally occupied Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir is weakening.

A report of a Turkish news outlet lately quoted a Kashmir police statement as saying that an Indian army officer and two others planted illegally acquired weapons on the bodies of three young men to pass them off as “terrorists” after killing them in a staged gun battle in Shopian in July, this year.

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The statement issued late on Sunday said the officer and two others planted illegally acquired weapons and material on their dead bodies after stripping them of their identities and tagged them as hardcore “terrorists” in possession of war-like stores.”