Killings in Valley condemned

Published January 22, 2002

MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 21: Muttahida Jihad Council, an alliance of Mujahideen groups, battling Indian rule in occupied Kashmir, on Monday condemned the massacre of 11 people in the Valley, and said the brutal act was committed by the Indian troops.

“This brutal act is surely the work of the frustrated Indian army. They are taking every mean step to break the will of the freedom seeking people of Kashmir,” MJC chairman Syed Salahuddin said in a statement.

Unknown assailants barged into the house of Zahir Hussain in Salva village in Mendhar area of district Poonch in occupied Kashmir on Sunday night, killing 11 people including eight children. Indian police said Mujahideen could be behind the killings.

But Mr Salahuddin dismissed the charge, saying “Indian troops were carrying out such incidents since long to create harassment among the Kashmiris and stop them from voicing their demand for freedom (from India).”

“The cruel Indian forces are killing people from all religions, castes and creeds in Kashmir for their only “sin” of demanding end to illegal Indian rule.”

“These incidents are enough to testify the state sponsored terrorism in the occupied territory, where neither the members of Muslim majority nor the members of Hindu, Sikh and other minorities are safe from it,” he said.