Curfew and communications blackout continued across Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) on the 49th consecutive day on Sunday.
The valley is under continued military siege since August 5 when Narendra Modi-led Indian government repealed the special status of Kashmir and imposed strict clampdown in the territory. Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops have kept millions of Kashmiris confined to their homes during all these days, Kashmir Media Service reported.
All shops, markets, business establishments and educational institutions still remain closed, while transport is off the road. The people are facing immense problems due to continued suspensions of communications means, including the Internet and mobile phone services.
Patients, doctors and other medical staff are facing difficulties in reaching hospitals due to curfew and other restrictions. Stocks of foodstuff, medicines and other essential commodities have run out, adding to the miseries of the people.
Meanwhile, Indian troops in their unabated acts of state terrorism martyred three youth in the held valley last week. On the other hand, the family of a teenager in Pulwama in IHK claimed that 15-year-old Yawar Ahmad Butt had committed suicide after he was allegedly beaten by soldiers in an Indian army camp, Indian publication The Wire reported on Sunday. The army has refuted the allegations. According to the publication, Butt’s family members said that the teenage boy was traumatised by the experience of being “detained and beaten” by the Indian army, after which he consumed poison on September 17.
The family said that Butt was picked up from a camp in the Tahab village where a grenade attack had allegedly occurred, The Wire reported.
Following the Indian government’s decision to strip Kashmir of its autonomy, people have accused Indian security forces of carrying out beatings and tortures.
In August, BBC News heard from several villagers who said they were beaten with sticks and cables, and given electric shocks. The Wire quoted the teenager’s sister as saying, “[Yawar] was picked up by the forces from the same camp on Tuesday. They had also snatched his I-card before releasing him hours later.”
“The same evening [Tuesday] he confided to me that ‘I was beaten up by the army’. But he didn’t speak about the incident to our parents or any other family member,” the publication reported, quoting Saima. She alleged that her brother was “very upset” about the incident and consumed poison later that night.
Additionally, Butt’s cousin said that he was rushed to a hospital and doctors had performed a stomach wash but his condition had deteriorated.
According to The Wire, the deceased teenager was shifted to Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital where he died after two days.
The Indian Express added that Butt’s medical records from a Pulwama hospital had mentioned an “alleged” case of “rat poison”. The senior superintendent of police for Pulwama, Chandan Kohli, said that police had started inquest proceedings into the case under Section 174 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
“It is a suicide case,” The Wire quoted him as saying, adding that police had taken up the matter with the army who denied the incident.
The Wire quoted a district administration official, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying that police intended to investigate the allegations that Butt had been beaten by the army, an army spokesman termed them as “baseless”. “The army neither detained nor tortured him,” he said.
