KL Report
Srinagar
Violent protests followed after a 55 year old lady in a Kulgam village lost her life due to heart attack allegedly triggered after army personnel harassed her during a nocturnal raid. The incident was reported last night.
Forces used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesting villagers in Khudwani who were holding protest demonstration against the army along with the body.
Army and STF personnel raided the house of Haji Ali Mohammad Dar and Ghulam Mohammad Gani residents of Cheder, a remote village falling on the road from Islamabad to Kulgam via Ashmuji, during the intervening night of February 17 and 18.
The locals told Kashmir Life that the army and STF personnel raided many houses in the village including that of Ali Mohammad Dar. During the nocturnal raid, inmates were asked to assemble in their respective courtyards, they added.
“When the search operation was going on and nothing objectionable was found in the housed, some army men threatened a youth and Nazira, a 55 year old lady pointing their guns towards them,” said Mohammad Abdullah a local senior citizen adding that Nazira was harassed to the extent that she lost her life probably due to fear.
On seeing the lady dead, the army men fled the village.
When on Monday morning people in the nearby villages heard about the news the assembled in Cheder. Hundreds of people took the body of Nazira and marched up to the forces camp situated in Khudwani in the building of Agricultural University.
“We were just demanding action against the army men who harassed Nazira which caused her death but we were tear gased and lathi charged,” said Abdullah. “All raids carried out during dead of the night are banned by the supreme court.” Asked why the raids were carried out, Abdullah said “It is AFSPA which is a cruel black law.”
Eyewitnesses told Kashmir Life that many got injured when people were cane-charged an chased. Meanwhile the area from Khudwani, Qaimoh and Cheder observed protest strike and the situation is tense in the area.
Nazira, wife of Ali Mohammad Dar, had performed Haj twice. She was mother of seven children. One of her sons, Shaheen Ahmad Dar is a constable in IRP.
Police said they are in the process of collecting details. “It will take us a bit of time to react to the incident,” police spokesman said. “Please bear with us.”
Later in a statement police said that the house of late Ali Mohammad Dar was outside the cordon and search. According to police that it was revealed that an old lady Mst. Nazeera age about 60 years wife of late Ali Mohammad Dar complained of ill health and was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared her dead.
