Srinagar, Sep 28: Three Kashmiris were killed on Saturday in an alleged gunfight between with Indian security forces and Kashmiri separatists in Batote area along the Jammu-Kishtwar national highway of Indian administered Kashmir, an Indian official said.
One Indian soldier was also killed during the action, said Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand told PTI. He said the search operation is still going on and further details are awaited.
Lt Col Anand said, "Today (Saturday) morning at about 7.30 am, two suspicious individuals tried to stop a civilian vehicle at the general area Batote on the highway. The driver was alert, did not stop the vehicle and rushed and informed the nearest Army post."
Independent bodies have yet to confirm whether the killed Kashmiris were separatists, or their alleged involvement in activities claimed by the Indian security forces.
Human rights organisations have claimed constant human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory administered by India, including mass killings, forced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse for political repression and suppression of freedom of speech.
UN human rights report on Kashmir in June 2018 has called for international inquiry into ongoing human rights violations and abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Rights Groups referred in Wikipedia; about “100,000 people have died since 1989 while the official figures from Indian sources state the estimates of number of civilians killed due to the insurgency in the range of 16,725 to 47,000”
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in its Foreign Ministers Meet in March 2019, adopted a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir, condemning the “atrocities and human rights violations” in the state.
The resolution on Kashmir used phrases such as “Indian terrorism” and “mass blindings” by Indian security forces on protesting youths.
