ISLAMABAD: The International Forum for Justice and Human Rights (IFJHRJK) has said that a total of 355 people, including a 10-year-old boy, a pregnant woman, and three PhD scholars, lost their lives due to Indian state terrorism in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) in 2018.
The report released by the IFJHRJK said that 95 cordon and search operations took place in the held valley in this year, leading to 120 houses being destroyed.
The report said that a journalist, two mentally challenged men and a 14-year-old were also among the victims of Indian state terrorism. It added that 355 Kashmiri Muslims and 95 forces’ personnel lost their lives this year.
The report stated that Musharraf Fayaz (10) died after getting injured in an explosion in Shopian in January, while a pregnant woman, Firdousa, lost her life to forces’ bullets. Senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was also shot dead outside his office at the Press Enclave.
The report said that November was the bloodiest month of the year with 49 people losing their lives. It also marks April 1 as the deadliest day, when 20 people were killed, while over 200 were injured in a single day.
“This year we saw 120 houses were razed to the ground. A house is a person’s lifelong investment. Nobody will invite combatants to his house. We have filed petitions in this case, but there has been no reply. There is no policy to rehabilitate them. Justice bodies should take cognizance of it,” IFJHRJK Chairman Ahsan Untoo said in a media interview in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights President Dr Syed Nazir Gilani strongly condemned the continued killings by Indian forces in IOK and demanded of the world powers to take action against Indian brutalities.
Dr Nazir Gilani in a letter addressed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, said, “Indian forces used gunpowder to blow up a residential house in village Bon Hajin in Rajpora area of District Pulwama on Saturday, December 29, 2018, and killed three Kashmiris.”
