Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, Muslim Conference, Anjuman Shari Shian and other organisations have expressed shock and grief over the death of six civilians in a blast near the encounter site in Kulgam on Sunday.
In a statement here a Jamaat spokesman advocate Zahid Ali said, “These types of tragic and heart-wrenching incidents clearly depict that the forces have devised a sinister plan to kill Kashmiri youth.”
He paid rich tributes to the six civilian youth who were killed near the encounter site in a blast and three militants who died in a gunfight with the forces at the same spot.
The Jamaat spokesman urged United Nations and other international human rights bodies to take effective steps to stop killings in Kashmir. “World community should come forward to safeguard civilian population in Kashmir who have been victims of all kinds of atrocities at the hands of forces,” he added.
The Muslim Conference Working President Jahangir Gani Butt expressed grief and sorrow over the death of six civilians in Kulgam.
In a statement Butt said, “Everyday government forces kill civilians in Kashmir and no one among them is held accountable. The Valley is in grief. Almost 50 other persons are reported to have been wounded in the blast that took place at an encounter site. The government forces should have cleared the area after conducting operation against militants at Laroo Kulgam.”
He extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and added, “We were mourning the killings of Fateh-Kadal and Pulwama and now there has been mayhem in Kulgam. Killing and conflict has to end and it will end by taking people of Kashmir, Pakistan and India on board,” he added.
President of J&K Anjuman Shari Shian and senior separatist leader Aga Syed Hassan Almosvi Alsafvi condemned Kulgam killings, and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families.
A spokesperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat in an e-mailed statement expressed grief and sorrow over the killings and termed it as a “new tactic to kill Kashmir.”
“Before this police never allowed civilians to go close to the encounter site and bullets and pellets on civilians were showered at least a kilometer away from the site. How was it possible that today the civilians were allowed to go near the encounter site where the police claim that the bomb went off?” the DeM spokesperson Rifat Fatima said.
“No amount of condemnation can be enough when it comes to denouncing oppression in Kashmir,” she added.