Residents of Shopian’s Vehil village alleged that they were beaten up and their homes and vehicles damaged by security forces on Monday night after some youth celebrated the Pakistan cricket team’s victory against Sri Lanka in the ongoing Champions Trophy.
The Army has refuted the allegations.
The trouble, according to the villagers, started around midnight when crackers were burst after the cricket match.
Army personnel from the nearby Chowdary Gund camp allegedly swarmed into the village and “opened aerial firing first”.
“The Army men rammed through everyone and everything that came in their way. It was a nightmare. Even parked vehicles were damaged. Windowpanes of houses were broken,” a resident told The Hindu over the phone.
The Army personnel allegedly barged into homes and “beat up inmates”. A shopkeeper accused the security forces of “ransacking shops”. The incident sparked fresh protests in the area on Tuesday.
In a separate incident, security forces marched into Turkwangam village around 11.30 p.m. and beat up locals on Monday night.
The village had witnessed sustained attacks on security forces by stone throwing protesters earlier in the day.
“It [the assault on villagers] continued for over two hours,” residents alleged.
Superintendent of Police, Shopian, A.S. Dinakar said the “police were ascertaining the facts on the ground”.
Srinagar-based Defence spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia, however, dismissed both allegations, saying, “Our troopers were not involved in whatsoever has happened in Vehil and Turkawangam villages.”
Hurriyat condemns
Accusing the security forces of “declaring a war on civilians”, the spokesman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, headed by Syed Ali Geelani, said, “The forces feel free and unaccountable since the Major Leetul Gogoi episode (the Major had used a civilian as a human shield against stone throwers).”
Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar said “celebrating Pakistan’s win over Sri Lanka in the ongoing Champions Trophy is not legally an offence.”
