Islamabad, September 19: Pakistan has called for a transparent judicial inquiry, under international scrutiny, into the extra-judicial killing of three youths by the Indian Army in South Kashmir’s,Shipian district. On 18 July 2020, Indian Army killed three labourers passing them off as militants. An Army enquiry revealed that the three slained youth were killed in a fake encounter and had nothing to do with militancy.
The three youth, 25-year old Imtiyaz Ahmed, 20-year old Mohammad Ibrar, and 16-year old Abrar Ahmed were killed during a cordon and search operation in Shopian on 18 July 2020 and declared as militants. The young Kashmiri boys had come from Rajouri to work in apple orchard as labourers.
“To cover up the cold blooded murder of these innocent Kashmiris, the Indian occupation army had claimed that the three were unidentified terrorists. To further hide their crime, instead of handing over the human remains to the families of the victims, the occupation forces had buried them in a graveyard, “said a Pakistan Foreign Office press release today.
“Two months after the killing, the Indian occupation Army itself has admitted that the three innocent Kashmiri labourers were killed extra-judicially — a hallmark of Indian occupation forces’ state-terrorism in IIOJK. In a statement issued on 18 September, the Indian Army has accepted that the powers vested under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) were exceeded,” said the Pakistan foreign office spokesperson.
“As the world community is aware, since its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 in IIOJK, India has taken its brutalization of innocent Kashmiris to a new level. More than 300, mostly young, Kashmiris have been extra-judicially killed by the Indian occupation forces in fake encounters and staged cordon-and-search operations in IIOJK during the past one year, “it said.
