It has been a summer of death in Kashmir. In early June, a 17-year-old student, Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, was killed when a tear gas canister fired from close range by Indian security forces attempting crowd control hit him as he returned home from tutoring for medical exams. Last Sunday night, Fida Nabi, a 19-year-old high school student, was taken off life support after six days in hospital with a bullet in his brain.
Interspersed between these two tragedies, more than 50 other civilians have suffered similar fates – senseless deaths caused by overzealous security personnel operating on instructions from a government in New Delhi that seemed devoid, until recently, of any idea how to win back hearts and minds in Kashmir’s idyllic valley.
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