Army Orders Probe After 30-Yr-Old Lecturer Beaten To Death In Custody, Death Toll Rises To 67

The unrest which started after Burhan Wani’s death is taking a toll on the lives of Kashmiris. Till now, 67 civilians have been killed and every day more reports of deaths are coming out. Curfew and shutdown which started in the valley 42 days ago, are still continuing and there isn’t any hope of normalcy in coming days.

Death of a civilian in custody

The death of Shabir Ahmed Mangoo, a 30-year-old lecturer in police custody has added fuel to the fire. According to villagers, on Wednesday, around 11:30 PM, army personnel barged into the houses of residents of Shar village and ransacked their household goods and beat them up. They took 28 people including Shabir Ahmed into custody. Later around 1 AM, army personnel returned the body of Shabir Ahmed, who was later declared dead at the hospital. They also released all other detained youth and all of them had sustained injuries as they were beaten mercilessly. Civilians took to the road to protest against the killing and chanted anti-army, anti-India and pro-azaadi slogans.

Regretting the incident, the army has ordered a probe into the matter. The raid was a joint patrol by the army, the police and CRPF. The police said that the arrests were preceded by a scuffle between the army and civilians.

Father alleges son was killed inside the home

A body of another youth Shabir Ahmed Mir was dug out of his grave for post-mortem on Supreme Court’s direction after his father alleged that he was killed inside the house. However, police have claimed he was killed during the protest.

Casualties till now

As per the New Indian Express, over 8,500 people including 5,000 civilians have been injured in the clashes between security personnel and youth during protests in last 41 days in the Valley. Many civilians have lost their eyesight and succumbed to injuries due to pellet guns. CRPF has informed the High Court that till now they have used 13 lakh pellets on civilians from July 8 to August 11 and it was difficult to follow the standard operating procedure given the nature of the protests.

This Tuesday, on an open firing by security forces on protestors, five persons were killed and 18 were injured.

On August 4, the body of an ATM guard was found in mysterious circumstances with 300 pellets in his abdomen, leading into assumptions that pellets were fired from point-blank range.

The Logical Indian take

The tense situation in the valley needs immediate attentions of our leaders including our Prime Minister. Silence on these issues doesn’t serve any purpose. The situation is tough both for the army and police personnel to control. They are following orders of the officials and the leaders. Our intention of covering this news is not to put anyone in the bad light, but to highlight the grim situation prevailing in the valley so some actions are taken to achieve peace and we reach to a conclusive solution. We cannot let our army and civilians die.