Daily Times

SRINAGAR: Indian forces shot dead five people and wounded another 20 during protests in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) on Tuesday, according to witnesses and security sources.

The day also saw Indian police registering a sedition case against Amnesty International, a rights group, after some people allegedly raise “anti-India” slogans at its event in Bangalore on the weekend.

In IHK, four people were killed in Aripanthan village after residents took to the streets to protest the aggressive tactics by members of the Indian forces during an overnight patrol designed to enforce a curfew.

A resident said that a protester was killed immediately after members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) opened fire and another three died of their injuries.

At least 12 other protesters were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The identities of the four who died were not immediately known, but all were young men.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security official said, “A patrol party fired at the protesters. Four have died.”

Another protester was shot dead in Larkipora village in south Kashmir after residents clashed with paramilitary troopers, according to witnesses.

A senior police officer in the region said that forces fired live rounds during the protests that left eight people injured.

The deaths come a day after a total of eight innocent people were killed in a series of clashes and gun battles across the region.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International denied that its staff made anti-nationalist comments at one of its events on Indian-held Kashmir after the rights group was slapped with sedition charges. Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore filed the initial charges against Amnesty on Monday following complaints that event participants called for independence of Held Kashmir.

Sedition charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, have been used previously against supporters of independence for IHK. “No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point,” Amnesty International India said in a statement on Saturday’s event in Bangalore. “The focus of the event was squarely on allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Rights campaigners have long accused New Delhi of using the British-era sedition law to clamp down on dissent, although convictions are rare.

The charges come as foreign charities are under intense pressure in India, with the government saying last year it has cancelled the overseas funding licences of around 9,000 non-governmental organisations in a major crackdown.

The complaints were lodged with police by a Hindu nationalist student organisation, some 200 of whose members staged protests outside the Amnesty’s offices in Bangalore.

“We want the organisers and those who raised anti-India slogans to be arrested and jailed,” student organiser Prem, who uses one name, told reporters, as police dragged scores into buses and vans to break up the rally.

Bangalore police said they were probing the complaint and studying footage of the event at the city’s United Theological College to identify those who shouted “anti-India” slogans.

“We have booked a case of sedition and rioting under various sections of the Indian penal code against Amnesty on a complaint that anti-India slogans were raised at an event it organised,” Deputy Police Commissioner TR Suresh told AFP.

In an earlier statement, Amnesty International said the police had been invited to monitor Saturday’s event, at which Kashmiri families spoke of alleged abuses of relatives by security forces.

“The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India,” Amnesty International India chief Aakar Patel said.

Indian forces have since 1989 been fighting rebel groups seeking either independence for Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of mainly civilians have been killed in the fighting.