By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: The Indian occupied forces conducted 312 Cordon and Search Operations (CASOs) and Cordon and Destroy Operations (CADOs) resulted in 124 encounters in which 232 freedom fighters embraced martyrdom during the year, said a report issued on Wednesday.
Such annual report was prepared by the Legal Forum for Oppressed Voices of Kashmir (LFOVK) on human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir which covers the period from January 1 to December 30, 2020.
According to the report, the Indian forces destroyed 657 houses during such operations. The martyrs included 65 civilians, 232 freedom fighters while 177 Indian forces were also killed.
2020 may be recorded as “Zero year” in the human history for the COVID-19 pandemic forced most of global citizenry inside their homes to save themselves from the deadly infection.
However, for IIOJK, the year added more complications and saw no letup in atrocities committed by the Indian occupying forces, report stated. The Indian forced launched broad-day inhuman attacks on Kashmir’s civil society, raiding residencies and offices of human rights defenders, journalists and civil society organizations, it added.
The year witnessed 65 extra judicial killings of civilians. The destruction of civilian properties during encounters saw an increase during the COVID-19 lockdown enforced by the government; an entire village in Budgam district was vandalized rendering many families homeless and without shelter, it said.
