SRINAGAR (Staff Report) – In Indian Occupied Kashmir, the total number of deaths since the killing of pro-freedom fighter Burhan Wani has reached 81, as Indian forces killed another Kashmiri protestor on Thursday morning.
The Indian authorities have enforced strict curfew and restrictions on the 41st consecutive to prevent people from conducting a march towards the UN office in Srinagar.
Indian troops and police personnel have been deployed in strength in Srinagar and other major towns while all roads leading to the UN office were sealed.
However, defying curfew and other restrictions, people came out of their houses in many areas and tried to march towards the UN office. They held sit-ins in Batamaloo, Nawa Kadal and other areas of Srinagar after they were not allowed to hold the march.
Call for the march was jointly given by All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman, Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik against India’s illegal occupation and killing of innocent people in the valley.
The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights has demanded access to occupied Kashmir amid grave concerns over human rights violations in the valley.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in Berlin that he has been working to get observers to the parts of the disputed region since violence flared last month.
Zeid called it unfortunate that access has not been granted yet, despite the seriousness of the allegations of the use of excessive force, state sponsored violence as well as killing and injuring of a large number of people.
He said the human rights office wants observers on the ground in Kashmir to interview victims, witnesses and security forces to independently assess the situation.
