SRINAGAR: Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed five civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said.
The troops fired live ammunition, shotgun pellets and tear gas to control a crowd of hundreds throwing stones and chanting slogans in Aripanthan village, west of the area’s main city Srinagar, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy. Three of the injured are in critical condition, police said.
News of the killings brought thousands of Kashmiris from neighboring villages into the streets chanting “Go India, go back” and “We want freedom.” Large crowds continued anti-India chants at a joint funeral for the four dead civilians Tuesday afternoon.
Amnesty denies sedition
Amnesty denied Tuesday its staff made anti-nationalist comments at one of its events on disputed Indian Kashmir after the rights group was slapped with sedition charges.
Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore filed the initial charges against Amnesty on Monday following complaints that event participants called for independence of the volatile Kashmir region.
Sedition charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, have been used previously against supporters of independence for Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.
The case comes at a particularly sensitive time, with large parts of Indian Kashmir under curfew following weeks of deadly violence between protesters and security forces.
Security forces shot dead five people and wounded another 20 during fresh protests in the Himalayan region on Tuesday, according to witnesses and security sources.
“No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point,” Amnesty International India said in a statement on Saturday’s event in Bangalore.
5 Kashmiris killed at anti-India protests
5 Kashmiris killed at anti-India protests
