Farooq Ahmad Bhat alias Farooq Nalli, one of the longest surviving member of the armed opposition along with Mushtaq Ahmad Itoo, Mohammad Irfan, Adil Hussain and Yasir Javid Bhat lost their lives. All the five were residents of Kulgam district, Jammu and Kashmir.

Srinagar: Indian media claims that the Indian Army along with local police killed five suspected members of the armed opposition. The five are Kashmiri, residents of Kulgam. Two soldiers of occupying forces were also injured (Thursday, 19 December 2024) in today's gunbattle in the Kulgam district of southern Jammu and Kashmir which is part of the Indian Administer Jammu and Kashmir. 

The gun battle broke out on the day when the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to chair a security review meeting on the Indian Administer part of Jammu and Kashmir in Delhi. Mr Shah himself is suspected of plotting to kill an Indian opposition leader (Hardeep Singh Nijjar) in Canada. 

As per police, a cordon and search operation was launched by a joint team of the Army’s 34 Rashtriya Rifles, police, and paramilitary forces on a lead about the presence of the members of the armed opposition in the Behibagh area of Kader village in Kulgam district. The hiding members of the armed opposition in the village, resorted to heavy firing on the security forces, triggering a gun battle, police told the reporters.

The members of the armed opposition campaigning for the re-unification and independence of Jammu and Kashmir as it was before 14 August 1947 demanded to allow the people of the forcibly divided state to elect their representatives from all parts of the forcibly divided state that is from Aksi Chin to Mangla and from Lakhanpure to Hunza, to reach consensus among themselves to formulate the future constitution with the consent of its neighbours, India, Pakistan, and China and finally the subject document to be put before the people for a final vote, but both the government, India and Pakistan manipulating the issue of Jammu and Kashmir using it for its internal politics for last 77 years yet the deaths and destruction are going on.

The members of the armed opposition had lost their lives as per the government forces claims, have been identified as Farooq Ahmad Bhat alias Farooq Nalli, one of the longest surviving members of the armed opposition commanders of the proscribed Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. His associates who also lost their lives in the combat activities have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Itoo, Mohammad Irfan, Adil Hussain, and Yasir Javid Bhat. All the five were residents of the Kulgam district.

"Police posted on X: “Encounter has started at Kadder area of Kulgam district. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow.”

The Indian Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps posted on X: ”OP KADER, Kulgam. Based on specific intelligence input regarding the presence of terrorists, a Joint Operation was launched by the Indian Army and J-K police at Kader, Kulgam. Suspicious activity was observed by vigilant troops and on being challenged, terrorists opened indiscriminate and heavy volumes of fire. Own troops effectively retaliated. Operation is in progress.”"

The local media reported referring to South Asia Terrorism Portal which minitors the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir that the gun battle in Kulgam took place at a time when the civilian death toll in suspected armed opposition attacks in Jammu and Kashmir is at a three-year high with 31 civilians killed this year so far, compared with 12 in 2023 and 30 in 2022.

The number of the armed opposition had lost their lives while in combat activities in Jammu and Kashmir, this year has dropped to 64 which is the lowest since the armed opposition broke out in the Indian-administered part of Jammu and Kashmir in the early 1990s. Indian army attributed the drop in the numbers of the armed opposition loss due to the decline in the number of active members of the armed opposition in the region.

Jammu and Kashmir from Aksi Chin to Mangla and Lakhanpure to Hunza occupied by both India and Pakistan for the last 77 years against the will of its people and the territory has been ruled as a colony. Both governments, India and Pakistan use the famous tools of historical colonial forces to divide the people on their natural diversities such as the religions, sects, ethnic origins, gender, or linguistic aspects, but the people time and again proved that they are one in the anti-colonial battle against Indo-Pakistan illegal occupation from Aksi Chin to Mangla and from Lakhanpure to Hunza. 

To end the armed conflicts in the Asian countries, the best and the only option is to return to democracy be that Jammu and Kashmir, Baluchistan, or Punjab. Allow the people to make their own decisions according to democratic norms set out in the UN Charter, UN resolutions, and bilateral treaties. This demand is also within the limits of the constitutions of India, and Pakistan, a new era of sharing sovereignty in the region is also a demand of the time. (read more for Kashmir)