Sopore, June 14: The labouers working in a stone-query in North Kashmir’s Sopore town of Baramulla district faced the wrath of the government forces after they were taken into Army camp, interrogated and thrashed.
Locals said that Army targeted labourers and students to avenge the grenade attack that was carried out by suspected militants on their camp at Pazalpora area of the town on Tuesday night.
Indian Army unit from 22 Rashtriya Rifles are stationed at Pazalpora village of the Sopore town.
Locals said that a group of Army men emerged near the stone-query located at Showa village and paraded the labourers there. “More than 3,000 labourers work in this stone-query who hail from different villages of the town including Mundji, Dooru, Pazalpora and Showa. Army picked up scores of labourers some of them students and took them along in the camp,” said a local.
“We were questioned and thrashed. They asked us to name the person responsible for throwing grenade on their camp,” said one of the victims.
“Some of the youth were beaten inside the camp and released only after they pleaded innocence,” said locals who identified some of the wounded youth as Dawood Ahmed, Muhammad Akbar Sheikh and Dar alias Dea.
Vehemently refuting the charges, Srinagar based Defence spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that their troopers neither manhandled nor detained anyone. “I checked the details and nothing as such has been happened. The allegations are baseless,” he said. (CNS)
