IOK people continue to suffer as lockdown completes 90 days

SRINAGAR: The inhumane Kashmir curfew in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir entered into the third month which badly affected by normal life amid strict military siege and tyrannic actions by Indian occupation forces against Kashmiris.

The miseries of millions of Kashmiri people are continued unabated following unrelenting restrictions under section 144 on the 90th straight day besides a complete suspension of internet and prepaid cellular services, Kashmir Media Service (KMS) reported on Thursday.

People continue to observe shutdown to show their resentment against India’s recent actions in the territory despite all-out efforts to engineer normalcy in the occupied valley, the report said.

Barring a few hours in the morning and evening, shops and business establishments remain closed most of the time. Public transport is off the roads while students are not attending schools and colleges except those who have to appear in the examinations for 10th and 12th classes.

Three photojournalists beaten up

At least 3 photojournalists on said that they were beaten up by Indian police personnel when they were covering anti-India demonstrations in downtown Srinagar, reported KMS.

Several other photo and video journalists including a woman said that police personnel chased and verbally abused them. One of the journalists said the police repeatedly asked him why he was taking pictures of the demonstrations.

Noted Indian author, Arundhati Roy, and Editor of The Wire, Siddharth Varadarajan, addressing during ‘Mela Ghadri Babeyan Da’ in Jalandhar city of Indian Punjab, expressed serious concern over the prevailing situation in occupied Kashmir and stressed the need for intellectuals to speak up.

Roy said, “I’m very ashamed about Kashmir. I can’t say ‘Mera Bharat Mahaan’. The silence on Kashmir is deafening. It’s our fight too. While there should have been potent opposition, no one spoke up. Very few journalists have spoken about it. The country needs a new movement and a new media out of it.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talking to German journalists who are accompanying her in her visit to India expressed concern for the people of Kashmir and said that the Kashmir Curfew of the region cannot be supported for long.