Three killed in Kashmir militant gunbattle

Three militants were killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Indian Kashmir on Friday amid widespread protests across the divided Himalayan region, police said.

 Police said all the dead from the shootout in Shopian district were militants, but villagers insisted one was a local youth, Jasim Shah.

 They said the teenager’s body was found in an orchard near the site of the battle.

 “Jasim was with the militants for the last three days, so he too was a militant. What else we can call him,” Kashmir police official Munir Khan told AFP.

 Dozens of rallies involving hundreds of people were held across Kashmir calling for action over the conflict in the region divided between India and Pakistan.

 Holding placards and banners, protesters appealed to the world community to resolve the long pending disputes of Kashmir and also Palestine.

 Protesters also gathered in the main Kashmir city of Srinagar and chanted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans.

 The protests were in response to calls from local separatist leaders to observe the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as “Palestine and Kashmir Day”.

 A statement released by separatist groups renewed demands for “self-determination” in Kashmir, where an uprising against the Indian rule over the last three decades has left tens of thousands dead, mainly civilians.

 “Oppressive measures cannot deter this nation from pursuing the right to self determination,” they said in the statement.

An Army officer was injured by a gunshot on Friday in Nubra area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region, officials said.

The officer, who was deployed in the Pratappur Sector, was injured at around 10.50 a.m. He was shifted to a nearby hospital, Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia, said in a statement.

Senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said on Friday that the separatist Hurriyat conference will support all peace initiatives between India and Pakistan as these will lead to a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Addressing people at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar on the last Friday of Ramandan month, he said: “Hurriyat is willing to support every initiative which is aimed at a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute keeping in view the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

“Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s offer of holding a dialogue on all outstanding issues should be taken seriously by New Delhi.

“Imran Khan has often repeated the offer of dialogue on all issues between India and Pakistan including Kashmir,” he added.

He said with such a massive mandate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the power to play a decisive role in resolving the long-standing Kashmir row.

He said the road to long-lasting, better and permanent better relations between India and Pakistan lay in the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Former MLA and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) President Engineer Rashid on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revisit the Centre’s policy towards Kashmir.

Addressing the media here, Engineer Rashid said: “After such a huge mandate, the Prime Minister must behave like a statesman and revisit the government’s policy towards Kashmir.

“Deal this political issue politically. Don’t rule Kashmir through the barrel of the gun. All Kashmiris are well wishers of India and not its enemies.

“(Pakistan Prime Minister) Imran Khan is trying to start talks with India. It is a welcome step. However, both the countries should not take the common Kashmiris for granted,” he added.

Engineer Rashid said Kashmir was a political issue and needed to be solved politically.

He said to create a conducive atmosphere in the state the central government should release political prisoners from the Tihar Jail in Delhi and other places.

Pulwama martyr Bablu Santra’s wife Mita Santra, raised questions over arrangements to take her family to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi by making them travel with kins of slain BJP activists in the state.

The Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had arranged her travel by Rajdhani Express along with relatives of BJP activists killed in political violence.

Agencies