Anger mounts after Kashmiri youth shot dead

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - A 17-year-old civilian was shot dead by Indian forces on Saturday in the Batamaloo area of Srinagar, the capital of the disputed Kashmir region, according to local sources.

Although Indian police said they were investigating the death, residents said a party of Indian forces shot Sajad Hussain Sheikh in the head after their vehicles were stoned.

Tahir Ahmad, a resident of Reka Chowk in Batamaloo, told Anadolu Agency: “There were a couple of BSF [Indian border security forces] vehicles passing through SD colony when some youths threw stones at them.

“That is when there was a bullet shot and Sajad was hit straight in the head.”

Sheikh was a resident of the Chandoosa area in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district and, according to Batamaloo locals, worked as a daily laborer in Srinagar.

In a statement, Indian police said they were "collecting the details and are looking into the circumstances under which a person, identified as Sajad Hussain Sheikh got killed".

However, the statement added that the District Police administration in Srinagar said there had been no deployment in the area.

-Tensions

As the news of death spread, tension and anger rose further in Srinagar, a city already simmering with fury over the killing of eight civilians by the Indian armed forces last Sunday and by videos of killings and beatings endured by Kashmiri civilians which have surfaced since then.

Earlier in the day, Indian forces entered the degree college in south Kashmir’s Pulwama town and beat up scores of students; videos of the assaults taken by fellow students on camera phones have gone viral.

According the student union, at least 50 people were injured.

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.

The two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.

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

More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region.

-Kashmir pressure

Elsewhere, former Indian Defense minister and present chief minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, said the pressure of some key issues, like Kashmir, was one of the reasons why he opted to quit the cabinet.

“The pressure of the issues like Kashmir while working as defense minister in Delhi was one of the reasons why I chose to come back to Goa,” the Indian media quoted Parrikar as saying on Friday.

"When you are in the Centre (Union government), you have to tackle issues like Kashmir and others... Delhi is not my area of operations (and) that is why I used to feel under pressure,” he added. “It is not so easy to solve the Kashmir issue... you require a long-term policy.”