Modi calls emergency meeting as clashes in Indian-held Kashmir escalate

At least 28 people have been killed in protests following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a high-level emergency meeting to discuss escalating tensions in Indian-held Kashmir amid anti-India protests that have left at least 28 people dead, Associated Press reported.



The protests follow the killing on Friday of Burhan Wani, a 22-year-old commander of Kashmir’s largest rebel group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), during a gun battle with government forces.

Hizbul Mujahideen is one of several groups that have for decades been fighting around half a million Indian troops deployed in the region, calling for independence.

Around 300 people have been injured, including nearly 100 police, and hospitals say they are overwhelmed. Most victims suffered gunshot wounds or teargas inhalation.

According to the police, death toll from street violence had reached 28, after three young men died overnight. Scores of civilians and troops have been injured in the clashes.

The fresh wave of violence has sparked a diplomatic spat between Pakistan and India.



Pakistan summoned on Monday India’s high commissioner to lodge a formal protest over human rights violations in the disputed region following the killing of Burhan Wani, the 22-year-old commander of Hizbul Mujahideen militant group. But New Delhi was quick to dismiss Islamabad’s protest as ‘interference in its internal affairs’.

Indian-administered Kashmir continues to seethe since the killing in a police encounter of Wani, who was a known poster boy for the Kashmir separatist movement. Violence in the disputed territory has since claimed almost 30 lives. Pakistan strongly condemned Wani’s extrajudicial killing and has sought investigations into his and other civilians’ deaths in the disputed valley.

In a knee-jerk reaction, India warned Pakistan late Monday not to meddle in its ‘internal matters’.

“We have seen statements from Pakistan on the situation in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. They reflect Pakistan’s continued attachment to terrorism and its usage as an instrument of State policy,” India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a statement.



“Pakistan is advised to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbours.”

However, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria dismissed the Indian assertion insisting that Kashmir was a disputed matter. “The dispute of Kashmir has international recognition. It is not an internal matter of India. Such an assertion is a violation of UN Security Council’s Resolutions,” Zakria told The Express Tribune.

He said the current situation in the Indian Kashmir, in particular and the indigenous movement for self-determination was a manifestation of what Kashmiris wanted.



“They are resisting against the Indian occupation of their territory and want to exercise their right to self-determination.

They want United Nations Security Council to implement the resolutions on Kashmir dispute and fulfil their promise.”