An Iftaar party organised by the Indian Army as a goodwill gesture during the ongoing Ramzan in a south Kashmir village ended with stone pelting, clashes and anti-India slogans during which four girls were injured.
A local unit of the Army based in the DK Pura village of Shopian had on Monday evening organised the Iftaar party as has been done every year, but the youth among the locals did not relish the idea and started pelting stones at the troops who in self defence fired some shots resulting in injury to four girls.
The violent youth then reportedly encircled the soldiers and pelted stones at them. They also raised pro-Pakistan slogans.
The Army said that the incident happened at around 7.30 pm when some miscreants from the village barged into a masjid and started shouting pro-Pakistan slogans on the loudspeaker.
“Very soon a large crowd instigated by the miscreants primarily consisting of youth and a few women gathered outside the masjid and surrounded the Army troops present there for organising the Iftaar,” said Army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia.
“The crowd resorted to heavy stone pelting posing serious threat to the safety of the troops. The troops verbally cautioned the crowd, but when the stone-pelting further intensified, they took necessary preventive measures and moved out of the area,” he added.
The Army spokesman said that the local Army Camp at Imam Sahib planned an Iftaar at DK Pura village and necessary coordination with the village Maulvi, Masjid Committee Members, Sarpanch and other eminent persons of the village was done.
“Some of them had also later visited the Army Camp in the afternoon to finalise arrangements,” he said.
This is the first time that the people did not accept the biryani offered by the Army. Residents of villages had in the past always attended the Army’s Iftaar parties at various places in Kashmir and also Jammu.
A senior police officer said though the Army’s gesture was appreciable, in view of tense atmosphere they should have organised the party inside their camp.