Families in occupied Kashmir allege brutality by Indian forces

Kashmiris want the world to know the truth and see what is being done to their children in the disputed region

SRINAGAR: Burhan Nazir Parrey, 16, had a gaping wound in his shoulder the size of a cricket ball, the latest victim of what Kashmiris say is indiscriminate brutality by Indian forces.

He is one of the lucky ones. Locals accuse Indian security forces of being responsible for four deaths since New Delhi stripped Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK) of its autonomy and imposed a crippling lockdown on August 5.

Parrey said he went out for a walk with a friend on the evening of August 6 and turning a corner ran into members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

In this photo taken on September 6, 2019, Sara Ali (L) sits with relatives as she holds a medical report for her six-year-old granddaughter Muneefa who was injured in one eye after allegedly being hit with a marble fired by an Indian paramilitary soldier using a catapult in Srinagar. PHOTO: AFP

One put the barrel of a pellet-firing shotgun gun to his upper body and "fired a shell right into my right shoulder", the teenager said.

Then one of the soldiers "put his boot on my shoulder and pushed the shell further inside", he said. "Another tried to crush my neck. I thought they wanted to see me dead right there."

Only when some women started shouting did the soldiers leave and neighbours took Parrey to hospital.



According to his father Nazir Ahmad, doctors located "more than 400 pellets" in his torso. Medical records seen by AFP showed that "multiple pellets and one plastic canister" were removed.

CRPF Inspector General Zulfiqar Hassan said there was "no report or record of this incident" but would launch an inquiry – if the boy filed a report.

In this photo taken on September 6, 2019, Burhan Nazir Parrey, 16, sits with bandaging on his shoulder a month after he says he was shot with a pellet-firing shotgun by an Indian paramilitary soldier at point-blank range in Srinagar. PHOTO: AFP

Despite restrictions on movement that were reinforced this week, there have been hundreds of protests and stone-throwing incidents.

According to multiple sources, several thousand people have been detained. They include almost all the region's top politicians – without charge.

The internet and mobile phones also remain cut off in the Kashmir valley, the main trouble area. UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Monday she is "deeply concerned".



Last month AFP spoke to relatives of three people they alleged have died as a result of the actions of security forces, including a mother-of-two after a tear gas canister smashed through her window.

On August 25 the governor of IOK, Satya Pal Malik, said there had not been a "single case of killing" in the previous 10 days.

The same day police said that a truck driver was killed on August 25 after being hit by a stone hurled by protestors.

Last week Asrar Khan, 17, became the latest fatality when he died in hospital on September 3, a month after being seriously injured.

Kashmiri civilians are stopped at a checkpoint during heavy restrictions on movements in Srinagar on September 10, 2019, on the 10th day of the holy month of Muharram. PHOTO: AFP

Khan was playing cricket near his home in Srinagar on August 6 when soldiers fired at him, said his mother.

"A CRPF vehicle stopped near the edge of the park and fired a tear gas shell straight at his head," Shaheena said as she cried in her home, supported by other women.

"I saw him fall and then they (soldiers) fired pellets on him."

Senior army officer Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon told reporters on September 4 that Khan was hit by protestors throwing stones.

Khan's hospital records, seen by AFP, showed he suffered "severe traumatic brain injury" and cited "pellet injury with shell blast injury" as the cause of death.

On Saturday India appeared to row back on Dhillon's statement, saying the cause of death was a "hard and blunt object" – but without saying what.

Khan's angry father Firdous Ahmad, showing a photo and X-ray of his son's face, said Dillon was "lying" and there were no protests the day he was hurt.

"My son will not come back, but I want the world to know the truth and see what is being done to our children in Kashmir," said Ahmad.