Alwaght- Indian government is using civilians as "human shields” in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, politicians and activists said.
Indian forces on Tuesday claimed that a gunfight took place in Hyderpora in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian-administered Kashmir, on Monday, and that two suspected militants and two civilians who were helping them were killed during the incident.
The families of the two, who were labeled as “militant associates”, denied that they had any links to militants.
Mehbooba Mufti, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hit out at the Indian government on Tuesday, and said, “Using innocent civilians as human shields, getting them killed in cross firing & then conveniently labeling them as OGWs is part of GOIs [the government of India’s] rulebook now”, using the abbreviation for “over ground worker”, a term that refers to those helping militants.
“Imperative that a credible judicial enquiry is done to bring out the truth & put an end to this rampant culture of impunity,” Mufti said on Twitter.
Mufti also shared an emotional footage showing the daughter of one of those killed in the Monday incident crying and saying “How do I explain it to my 3-year-old brother? How do I lift [my] mother’s spirit who hasn’t stopped crying? Why was my father used as a human shield 3 times & killed?" the daughter of Mohammad Altaf Bhat wondered.
Bhat’s family members staged a protest on Monday night, demanding the handover of his corpse which they have been denied as he was labeled a “militant associate”.
“My uncle has been murdered. He was used as a human shield in a staged encounter. He runs a hardware shop and owns the complex where the forces had come for checking,” The Kashmir Walla quoted niece Saima Bhat as saying, adding “There was no gunfight in that complex. He was taken three times as human shield for checking and when they couldn’t find anything, he was killed there.”
People also took to social media to voice their anger and to denounce the Indian crackdown on people in the disputed region of Kashmir.
“They kill and label us anything according to their own convenience. A civilian was used as human shield, killed and labeled as militant sympathizer to deny body to the family and their right to mourn the loss,” an activist said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since their partition in 1947. Both countries claim all of Kashmir and have fought three wars over the territory.
The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the special status of Indian-controlled Kashmir in 2019, in a move described by Pakistan as “illegal.” Since then, India imposed a similar internet shutdown and other restrictions in the disputed Muslim-majority region.
