National News

ISLAMABAD, (APP): The survivors of Indian Army’s
indiscriminate firing on protesters in Handwara have said that the troops fired directly on the demonstrators.
Three people including a woman were killed and several others were
injured when the army personnel opened fire at Handwara Chowk on Tuesday on
the people who were protesting against the molestation of a girl by the
troops, Kashmir Media Service reported.
One of the injured youth, Ishfaq Majeed Malik, a 9th class student,
said that some angry protestors torched the army bunker in the middle of the road.
“Announcements were made from the public address system of a nearby
masjid appealing police to withdraw from the spot. But the police fired
teargas canisters, chilly grenades and resorted to intense aerial firing,” he said.
He maintained that when protestors did not relent despite police firing
and shelling, the army soldiers inside the bunker fired at the demonstrators.
“I could not see anyone around barring me and another protestor lying
in the middle of road. A pin drop silence had engulfed the Chowk suddenly. I could not walk properly. When I looked at my leg, I saw blood oozing out and I panicked,” Ashfaq said.
He was later removed to district hospital Handwara from where he was
shifted to Bone and Joint Hospital in Srinagar.
22-year-old Rayees Ahmad Sheikh, a cab driver, was parking his vehicle
in the town during the protests when he received a bullet in his chest, said
his elder brother Shabbir Ahmad Sheikh.
“I called Rayees to park his cab in the town and avoid driving the
vehicle home because of the protests,” he said outside Surgical Intensive Care Unit of Soura Hospital in Srinagar, where Rayees is battling for his life.
Rayees needed 9 pints of blood infusion. After 10 minutes, Shabbir
said, someone called him from his brother’s phone to say that Rayees was hit by a bullet.
“Rayees had to undergo a 4-hour long surgery last night. I only saw him
at 7am (on Wednesday), but since then, we have not been allowed to meet him in the ICU,” said another brother of Rayees.