A fresh wave of anger sparked across Indian occupied Kashmir after Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Commander Riyaz Naikoo Martyred by Indian security forces.
Authorities disabled mobile internet across the Kashmir region early on Wednesday to prevent large crowds from gathering in the streets to mourn Naikoo’s killing.
Still, locals came out and pelted soldiers with stones in an attempt to disrupt the operation in which Naikoo was killed, Kumar said, adding that demonstrators had to be beaten back by troops.
“Several protesters have received pellet injures and three of them have bullet wounds. They have been hospitalised,” he said.
In all, at least 30 people were injured as protesters clashed with security forces in around a dozen spots across Kashmir, including in the main city of Srinagar, another police official said.
Protesters set fire to two police vehicles in Pulwama, the official said, declining to be named since he was not authorised to speak to media.
In a Major military operation on Wednesday, May 6, Indian security forces killed Riyaz Naikoo in his native village of Beighpora in south Kashmir.
A mathematics teacher turned into a freedom fighter (Rebel), Riyaz Naikoo was leading Kashmir’s freedom struggle after Burhan Wani who was also killed by Indian occupation forces in 2016.
Riyaz Naikoo’s death is being seen as a major victory for India’s efforts to crush the freedom movement. However, it is likely to spark more unrest in the valley and disputed region.
Military Operation
Hundreds of Indian soldiers launched an operation late on Tuesday after receiving intelligence that Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo was hiding in a village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Police and army soldiers launched the operation in the Awantipora area in southern Kashmir based on a tip that some rebel commanders were sheltering there.
They used earth movers to dig up several patches of land, including a school playground, looking for possible underground hideouts, residents said.
Troops blasted at least two civilian homes with explosives, a common tactic employed by Indian troops in Kashmir. Yesterday’s Video from Pulwama Encounter Spot when a civilian House blown up. See the video in the Tweet, Below.
“He was trapped in a house and early today a gun battle took place during which he and his associate were killed,” Kashmir’s inspector general of police, Vijay Kumar, told Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
Two rebels were killed in another firefight nearby, Kumar added.
History of Riyaz Naikoo
35-Year-old Riyaz Naikoo, joined the separatists (Freedom fighters) in 2012, two years after about 100 people were killed by troops during a restive summer marked by protests and violence.
A former mathematics teacher with a bounty of 1.2 million rupees ($15,800) on his head, Naikoo was an aide to the charismatic Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed in July 2016, leading to months of unrest.
After Burhan Wani’s death, Naikoo helped give new life to the rebel movement. He unified the ranks, which had been divided by splinter factions.
Dibyesh Anand, who teaches international relations at the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom, told in an interview to Al Jazeera that Naikoo’s killing will make “the relationship between Kashmir and India much worse than what it is”.
“What’s likely to happen is more frustration, more anger, more anxiety that ordinary Kashmiri population would have,” he said.
“The main intention of [India’s] “The main intention of [India’s] Hindu nationalist government is not only to completely occupy Kashmir, but also to erase any form of resistance that Kashmiris have.” is not only to completely occupy Kashmir, but also to erase any form of resistance that Kashmiris have.”
