2 militants killed amid shutdown in Kashmir

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Two militants were killed on Tuesday in a gunfight with Indian armed forces in Tral area in the south of Kashmir, police said.

Police spokesman Manoj Pandita in a statement confirmed the killings and identified the two slain militants as Adfar Fayaz and Irfan Ahmad.

“According to the records, the killed terrorists were affiliated with proscribed outfit Hizbul Mujahideen,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kashmir valley observed a complete shutdown to protest against the two recent controversial orders passed by the Indian government.

The first order passed by the Cabinet amends the special position of Jammu and Kashmir, a move seen as a violation of the region’s autonomy especially when there is no elected government in place. The region at present is under the rule of the Indian president.

Analysts fear that this order which deals with government job quotas will set a precedent for the government to change the land law which prevents any non-Kashmiri from buying land in Kashmir.

Critics of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party believe the government wants complete integration of disputed Kashmir region with India by changing demography and the Muslim character of the region.

The second government order banned the socio-religio-political organization Jamaat-e-Islami.

Several properties belonging to the organization were sealed by the government and members arrested.

The fate of schools and mosques run by the organization in the region is still unclear as the Indian government tightens its grip around it.

Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.