March 06

Suhail Dar

Plying on the Kashmir highway is not a cake walk anymore, 26 year old Yawar Ahmed Malik of Melhoora in Biijbehara area was rounded up by Army men and assaulted for nearly 15 minutes leading to protest in the area on Saturday morning.

Hundreds of drivers and residents including women blocked the Highway connecting Srinagar with Islamabad (anantnag) near Batengoo and shouted slogans against the Army and against the administration for giving a free hand to the Army men.

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“They were driving on the wrong side, i did not even say a word, they came down and took my out of my four wheeler and started beating me without any provocation, my nose bled and i think my nose is also fractured, finally some locals came to my rescue,” Yawar Ahmed Malik said as he kept bleeding from the nose.

They hit me with gun butts, with sticks and kept abusing me and when i fell down on the ground, they kicked my stomach for more than ten minutes, Yawar alleged.

As soon as the incident happened, residents of nearby areas and people who were on the National highway chased the Army men away from the spot, however Drivers blocked the highway to protest against the highhandedness of Government Forces.

“From our homes to the streets, they want to take control of every piece of land here, they might soon ask us to leave Kashmir,” Abdul Rashid another driver told The Kashmiriyat.

A Police official commenting on the issue told The Kashmiriyat that a Police team has reached the spot and they are investigating the “Facts”.

Since 2016, the vigilantism of Indian Army around the National Highway has increased manifolds, There have been accusations of excesses against the Government Forces deployed on the National Highway, two days post the Pulwama attack on 14 February in which 49 CRPF men were killed, the troopers made three men kneel down on their knees and hit their heads with gun butts.

On Tuesday, the forces thrashed a group of students which included a minor girl after they allegedly barged into a school bus and thrashed the students to pulp, also ambulances and school buses are stopped during convoy movement for hours after Indian Home Ministry passed an order to stop traffic during the convoy movement on the National Highway.

There have been allegations that many shoppers and drivers were thrashed on the 300 Kilometer long highway that connects Srinagar with Jammu.