Kashmir News Weekly Roundup: 12/4-12/11

Mental-Health Emergency: Kashmir suffocating Under Indian occupation:

Exclusive:

Experts and local sources argue that, contrary to the Indian Government’s misleading statements, mental health in occupied Kashmir has worsened over the past few years. According to a report from the Head of Psychiatry at the Government Medical College in Srinagar, Dr. Mohammad Maqbool Dar, most patients who attend the Psychiatric Hospital Srinagar are primarily young, including women and children.

“Only 20–30 patients would attend the hospital for examinations when I began my profession in 1989, and most of them were mentally challenged. Hundreds of patients attend the hospital each day for checkups, most of whom are young people, including children; therefore, the situation has changed, ” he added.

The Indian state is suffocating Kashmiri people on all fronts. The Indian state’s apparent desire to alter Kashmir’s demographics and silence any voice of opposition is reflected in its fascist policies in recent years. “People are worried about survival, and every day is a battle. I have received patients as young as 15-year-old boys who were injecting heroin because they were traumatized and tortured by police in jail. One of the policemen repeatedly raped him,” says a psychologist wishing anonymity.

News Updates:

Kashmiri Resistance leader’s family residence demolished by India:

On Saturday, the residence belonging to the family of resistance leader Ashiq Nengroo of Rajpora in Pulwama was demolished by India’s imposed administration because the Revenue Department claimed it was constructed on government land.

On September 5, Ashiq Negroo’s brother, Manzoor Ahmad Nengroo, was found dead in an orchard. Eyewitnesses said that his dead body was riddled with bullets and claimed it was an extra-judicial killing done by the Indian occupation forces to punish the resistance leader’s family. Indian agencies have regularly conducted raids on the homes of resistance activists and leaders and seized their properties.

Resistance group demands release of Kashmir’s political prisoners:

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has said that it is gravely concerned about the treatment of Kashmiri political figures, activists, journalists, young people, and others who are being held in various Indian prisons without trial. In a statement, APHC voiced alarm about Kashmir’s political leaders and activists forced to suffer due to their convictions.

The APHC emphasized that oppressive and coercive practices are not going to change the course of history. The APHC reiterated its demand for the immediate release of all political detainees, activists, journalists, and youth.

Indian occupation agencies arrest another Journalist in Kashmir:

Under the pretext of investigations and court orders, journalists continue to be harassed and intimidated in Kashmir regularly. A senior journalist from the Islamabad (Anantnag) region of South Kashmir named Khalid Gul was detained by police on Tuesday in connection with what they described as “an old case filed in 2017.”
Along with a few other journalists, Khalid’s residence was raided on November 19 as part of an investigation into an alleged “online threat.” Gul, who spent many years working for the regional newspaper Greater Kashmir, was granted bail by a local court in the Islamabad district on Wednesday. Journalists in Kashmir say that Indian agencies are using the investigation to justify the harassment and intimidation of media personnel in occupied kashmir.

Indian Government seizes civilian homes allegedly for harboring resistance fighters:

By taking the properties of those who supposedly provide the resistance movement’s members any support or aid, the Indian Government is escalating its campaign of repression against the freedom movement in Kashmir. In the Khrew neighborhood on the outskirts of Srinagar, police on Wednesday seized a home for allegedly “harboring militants.” Ghulam Ahmad Najar, S/O Ghulam Mohammad Najar, a local of Danak Mohala Khrew, is identified as the owner of the home.

The police have issued a threat saying that anyone who “harbors, provides shelter, or extends logistical support to resistance fighters or their associates in their houses, will be booked, and coercive action will be taken against them.”

Indian agencies continue to raid residences in Kashmir:

As Indian authorities continue to raid and conduct searches at various sites in connection with purported resistance “financing cases,” the repression campaign in Kashmir continues. On Saturday, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) said that raids at many sites in the Kashmir Valley had found Rs 29 lakh in cash. Various SIA teams, along with the police, conducted the raids in Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Srinagar, and Budgam.

India has filed serious charge sheets under PSA and UAPA against members of the resistance movement. Indian government organizations, including the NIA, SIA, CBI, and Indian army, have also carried out raids on the residences and offices of those associated with the resistance movement.