Shopian, Mar 30, : Locals from Ratnipora village of South Kashmir’s Shopian district Saturday alleged that army soldiers from a nearby camp went berserk during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and without any provocation barged into residential houses, thrashed people and ransacked houses. They said it was a Hell like situation as unbridled army soldiers created fear psychosis in the dead of the night.
Last week the area had witnessed a gunfight in which at least 2 militants were killed.
Locals from the village while recounting the horror told news agency CNS that they were asleep when the sound of jackboots woke them up. “The soldiers without asking anything created noisy scenes, showering abuses and attacked people. They barged into houses and started beating people irrespective of their age and gender,” they said adding even their cell phones were damaged by soldiers.
The locals blamed army soldiers from 34 Rashtriya Rifles based in Chowdhary Gund Camp for the mess. “The armed soldiers didn’t listen to anyone and even they didn’t give any reason for their illegal action. We were scared and some of us escaped from the spot. We can’t express the scary scene in words.”
The terrified locals said that at least 8 people sustained injuries while one of them whom they identified as Muhammad Shafi Naikoo son of Ghulam Muhammad.
When contacted, Srinagar based Defense spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia denied the allegations saying no army personnel is involved in manhandling of any civilian or ransacking of any property in Shopian village. (CNS)
