Agencies
Srinagar, Aug 04: Wanted Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Naveed Jatt, who fled from police custody early this year, Saturday made an appearance at the funeral of a militant killed in a gun battle with security forces in Jammuand Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Photographs of Jatt offering a gun salute to Waqar Ahmad Sheikh at his funeral in Shopian’s Malikgund village have surfaced on social media.
Jatt escaped from Police custody on February 6 while he was being taken to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital here for a medical examination. Two policemen were killed in a shootout at the hospital. (PTI)
Offer prayers-in-absentia for the slain today: Joint Hurriyat
Srinagar, Aug 04: Joint Hurriyat Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik strongly condemned the killing of civilian, Bilal Ahmed Khan in Ganowpora Shopian and critical injuries to over two dozen protesters when forces fired upon them during an encounter in the area.
The trio said that while a complete strike will be observed on August 5 (today) against the assault on Article 35-A, the strike will also be observed as a protest against the unabated killing of civilians and militants and maiming and injuring of youth.
Joint Hurriyat paid rich tributes to the five militants killed in Shopian gunfight and said that after Zuhr prayers on August 5, funeral prayers in absentia will be held across Kashmir for the civilians and the militants killed in recent encounters across Kashmir.
The leadership-trio asked the people to make the strike call for August 5 and 6 a success so that a strong message goes to the international community of how “New Delhi was crushing the legitimate struggle of people through its military and deceitful means”.
Paying tributes to nine militants killed in various encounters in the past two days in Shopian, Kupwara and Sopore and also the civilian Bilal Ahmed who fell to forces bullets at Shopian on Saturday, Joint Hurriyat said: “Our youth are making the greatest sacrifice of their life for the sacred peoples movement of self-determination and an end to occupation.”
Strongly denouncing the practice of firing live ammunition on civilian protestors around encounter sites, the leadership said that using bullets and pellets on Kashmiris protesting any kind of repression has become the “standard state response and encounters sites are no exception”.
“Hundreds of troopers surround the area and blow up the houses where the militants with little training but great commitment to the cause are holed up and then great claims of victory are made,” the leadership said.
“While the current assault on 35A is part of the policy to change the demographic character of the state, the sustained killing of our youth is aimed at slowly finishing off our next generation,” they said.
Questioning the “criminal silence” of the world community, the trio said that despite the UNHRC report, the conscience of international community refuses to wake up.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
