16 June 2018•Update: 16 June 2018
By Zahid Rafiq
SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir
A protester was killed and 16 others injured by Indian armed forces following Eid prayers in southern Kashmir on Saturday, local media reported.
Dr. Majid Mehrab, medical superintendent of the Anantnag district hospital where the injured were taken, confirmed the death of 20-year-old civilian, identified as Sheeraz Ahmad.
“The deceased suffered pellet injuries in his throat and head and could not survive,” Mehrab told media.
However, the police in a statement claimed their preliminary investigation revealed that the youth had been killed by splinter injuries from a grenade.
He was the second civilian killed in Kashmir over the past 24 hours.
On Friday evening, 24-year-old Waqas Ahmad was killed and his sister Ruqaya Bano injured by Indian armed forces in Nowpora area in Pulwama district.
“The army personnel resorted to aerial firing when the mob which refused to obey their verbal order to disperse,” Rajesh Kalia, the military spokesman, said.
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.
