17 Kashmiris were killed by Indian forces in Chota Bazaar district of Srinagar.

On 8th of January, Indian troops shot dead 16-year-old Inayat Khan in Srinagar. On 31 of January, 13-year-old Wamiq Farooq, succumbed to fatal injuries due to tear gas shelling. On 5th of February, Zahid Farooq, a 16-year-old boy, was shot by a BSF (Border ‘Security’ Forces) patrol in Brein area of Srinagar, while he was playing cricket along with his friends. On 30th of April, three men were killed in a fake encounter by the Indian Army at Nadihal, Rafiabad, in North Kashmir.

Things ultimately started heating up on the street with the killing of Tufail Ahmad Mattoo a 17-year-old boy from Saedkadal locality in old Srinagar. Tufail was killed by the Jammu and Kashmir police when they targeted him with a teargas shell on his head. Mattoo died on the spot as the shell broke his skull. His death catalyzed intense new protests that lasted months. Indian forces imposed a curfew and killed over 100 young Kashmiris during “stone-pelting” protests.

Ramping up its colonial project in Kashmir, India launched e-applications on this day while Kashmiris were still blocked from the internet. Within three days, 25,000 domicile certificates had been issued.

With subsequent legislation, the Indian government may also continue to re-define domicile to implement changes in land ownership rules, as well as changes in the electorate. The Indian government had issued threats to arrest anyone who voiced their dissent against this new law. Given the immense amount of repression, including the large-scale detention of Kashmiris, and the restrictions to freedom of association and expression, it is even more urgent that the international community raise the alarm at the devastating impact these changes will have.

On the night of June 29, 1999, 15 persons, all members of one joint family, including six children, were massacred in their home in Mohra Bachai, a village 5 kilometers away from Surankote, Poonch in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir. Six of those killed were women, nine were men. It later emerged that the massacre was jointly planned and perpetrated by Special Police Officers [SPO], Superintendent of Police [SP] J.P. Singh, Hawaldar Mushtaq Shah and other personnel of the Indian army.

While a report was filed with the police, similar to other cases, it was closed on 2 November 2001 with no outcome