Four Kashmiris martyred in IOK

Indian troops on Sunday martyred four Kashmiri youth in Indian Occupied Kashmir in the latest spike in violence.

The youth were martyred during a cordon and search operation in Watrigam area of Islamabad district on Sunday.

The Indian forces sealed all the entry points of Watrigam, Achabal and Islamabad and launched a massive door-to-door search operation.

One of the martyred youth was identified as Tariq Ahmed.

Last year on August 5, India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had repealed Article 370 of the constitution and imposed an indefinite lockdown in Occupied Kashmir through a rushed presidential order.

The move deprived the Kashmiris of the special autonomy they had for seven decades and placed elected representatives under house arrest.

It allowed people from the rest of India to buy property in Occupied Kashmir and settle there permanently.

Article 370 had also limited the power of the Indian parliament to impose laws in the state, apart from matters of defence, foreign affairs and communications.

Kashmiris as well as critics of India’s Hindu nationalist-led government have termed the move as an attempt to dilute the demographics of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu settlers.

With international pressure mounting to restore freedoms, Indian authorities claim they had “eased” some restrictions, such as lifting roadblocks and restoring landlines and some mobile phone services.

The scenario for 12.5 million Kashmiris, however, is far from normal.

Pakistan has time and again highlighted that the August 5 measures announced by India "were forced upon" the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir "through the barrel of a gun" and that the region had been turned into a prison with the deployment of over 900,000 Indian security forces.

Prime Minister Imran Khan last year’s 45-minutes speech at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York was intense criticism of India for its annexation of Occupied Kashmir and the continued restrictions imposed in the region.

As a result, a bipartisan resolution was moved in the US Congress which urged India to end the restrictions on communications and mass detentions in the region as swiftly as possible and preserve religious freedom for all residents.

The movers of the resolution rej­ected arbitrary detention, use of excessive force against civilians, and suppression of peaceful expression of dissent as proportional respon­ses to security challenges.

Meanwhile, India's Supreme Court, while hearing petitions challenging the restrictions on movement and communication imposed in the valley had said that freedom of internet was a fundamental right and ordered the administration to review all restrictive orders.

In a rebuke for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, the court termed shutting down the internet "unconstitutional".