Kulgam, Aug 18: Panic gripped Bhan village of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Friday evening after forces went into a frenzy and damaged property worth of lacs while thrashing young and old of the village.
Locals here alleged that at around 7 pm on Friday, an army party visited Bhan and said they were pelted with stones in the area. “While blaming the villagers for throwing stones at them, they damaged houses and other property here,” the locals alleged.
They said that the forces present in the village called for reinforcement as dozens of vehicles entered the village.
Locals identified the arrested youth as Fasil Ahmad Bhat S/o Nazir Ahmad Bhat and Fasil Ahmad Sheikh S/o Bashir Ahmad Sheikh. “Scores of others including both youth and elderly were thrashed mercilessly.”
“Not only the houses were damaged but items like refrigerators, medicines and other worthy things were stolen from shops,” the locals alleged.
Meanwhile, Naib Tehsildar, Mohammad Ayoub, visited the area today to take stock of the damage.
During his survey, around 71 houses, 4 shops and 12 vehicles were found damaged in the village; while different items were also found missing from around 15 shops.
The locals alleged that more than 200 houses were damaged in forces’ action and many items, worth lakhs of rupees were stolen from some shops.
When contacted, Kulgam’s Superintendent of Police said, “I am on a official visit and cannot talk over the issue.”
