More than 90 protesters killed in IOK crackdown in 2016: HRW report

ISLAMABAD: Global rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a report said that a crackdown on protests in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) beginning from July 2016 killed more than 90 people and injured hundreds, fuelling further discontent against Indian forces.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the HRW in its ‘World Report 2017’ said that protests erupted in July 2016 after the killing of a young separatist leader Burhan Wani in the disputed valley.

The report said that the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, a paramilitary unit, defended the use of shotguns that fired pellets and resulted in hundreds of eye injuries, even as it told the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that “it was difficult to follow the standard operating procedure given the nature of the protests”.

It added that at least 32 schools were burnt and several were taken over by Indian forces that set up temporary camps inside.

The HRW report also highlighted that in August 2016, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, expressed regret at the failure of Indian authorities to grant his office access to occupied Kashmir for a fact-finding visit.

In the 687-page ‘World Report’, its 27th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries.