Thousands attend funerals of Kashmiri martyrs in extreme cold

In occupied Kashmir, thousands of people braving snowfall and rain, defying restrictions thronged Tral town in Pulwama district to attend funeral prayers of three Kashmiri martyred youth.

The youth were killed by the troops during a cordon and search operation in Gulshanpora area of the town, yesterday. Amid vociferous pro-freedom and anti-India slogans, the funerals of the martyrs were held in their native Seer, Mandoora and Monghhama areas of Tral town. The mourners on the occasion reiterated to continue their struggle for freedom till complete freedom from the Indian bondage.

Meanwhile, Indian troops thrashed the locals and forced them to stay outdoors during the ongoing cordon and search operations in Srinagar, Budgam, Kupwara, Bandipore, Baramulla, Islamabad, Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam and Rajouri districts. The troops subjected pedestrians to brute force at Sarnal in Islamabad district.

Speakers at a seminar organised by Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement and Forum for Peace in Jammu warned the Indian government against pursuing the brutal policy of suppression in the occupied territory. They said that the road to peace and stability in South Asia passes through Kashmir. Speaking on the occasion the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement, Mir Shahid Saleem, said that illegal and unconstitutional acts of Indian government to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir can never change the disputed nature of the territory.

Amid continued military siege and lockdown on the 162nd day, on Monday, the life in the Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region was also paralyzed due to the closure of Srinagar-Jammu highway. The Kashmir valley is cut off from the rest of the world due to the closure of the highway.

The APHC-AJK at a meeting in Islamabad said that India had converted the entire occupied territory into a big jail.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury responding to a recent statement of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah disputed the New Delhi’s assertions that Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter of India. He asked Amit Shah that if Kashmir was an internal matter of India then why the United Nations is monitoring it since 1948. He also took a swipe at newly-appointed Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane over his remarks on Azad Kashmir and advised him to focus on his work.

The French government in a statement, today, said that Paris was closely following the situation in Kashmir and noted that the issue was discussed during a recent telephonic conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.