NEW DELHI – A former judge of Indian Supreme Court has criticised his country’s army chief for the use of brutal force on civilians in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Justice (r) Markandey Katju, who has also been the chairman of the Press Council of India, in a tweet compared General Bipin Rawat with the notorious Gen Dyer, who was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, for mayhem in the occupied valley.
“Congratulations to Gen Rawat whose soldiers killed 7 civilians in a Jallianwalabagh or My Lai type massacre in Pulwama, Kashmir. How brave of the Indian army General,” Katju wrote satirically on his twitter handle.
https://twitter.com/mkatju/status/1074308530222465029
In another tweeter, Katju wrote, “three cheers for the Indian army which has now started killing civilians in Kashmir, like Gen Dyer at Jalianwala bagh, or Lt Calley at My Lai in Vietnam. All Indian army officers and soldiers should be given Bharat Ratna.”
https://twitter.com/mkatju/status/1074308081528569856
Eleven Kashmiris were martyred and over 200 injured in fresh acts of state-sponsored terrorism by Indian security forces in Occupied Kashmir on Saturday. Three freedom-fighters were also killed in a gunbattle with occupation forces.
The civilians were massacred when Indian security forces opened fire at people protesting the killing of three freedom-fighters in a gunbattle in Kharpora Sarnoo village of Pulwama district.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/indian-troops-shoot-10-kashmiris-dead-in-pulwama/
Condemning the killing, Pakistan’s Prime Minster Imran Khan had said that ‘only dialogue, and not violence and killings, will resolve this conflict’.
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1074292586167316483
A complete shutdown is being observed in Kashmir valley today for the third straight day against the Pulwama killings on the weekend.
All shops and other commercial establishments are closed in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Himalayan state, and elsewhere in the valley while public transport is off the roads.
Educational institutions are closed while the exams scheduled at the Kashmir University and other universities on Monday have been postponed.
Joint Resistance Leadership – an amalgam of separatist leaders headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik – has called for a shutdown and a march to Badami Bagh army base in Srinagar today to mourn the killings.
The Indian army on Sunday asked people to avoid the march towards 15 corps headquarters situated at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar over call given by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL).
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah while reacting on the Pulwama civilian killings said that it is a massacre and there is no other way to describe it.
https://twitter.com/OmarAbdullah/status/1073886394374938626
Earlier, Abdullah while reacting to the civilian killings had said that it was ‘another blood soaked weekend in Kashmir’.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti while reacting to the civilian killings has said that there would be no probe which would bring back the dead. She also asked that ‘is this what was expected from the Governor rule’?
https://twitter.com/MehboobaMufti/status/1073848492387328002
She also said that no country can win a war by killing its own people.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned the deplorable extrajudicial killings of innocent Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and urged the Indian government to put an end to the human rights abuses.
https://twitter.com/OIC_OCI/status/1074387314753896450
India and Pakistan each claim the divided territory of Kashmir in its entirety. Most Kashmiris support the rebel cause that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.
India, which has deployed over 500,000 troops in the tiny Muslim-majority region, accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, a charge Pakistan denies.
Nearly 100,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.
