Kashmir men portrayed by India as terrorists are farmers: ISPR

Photo: AFP Two Kashmiri men, Muhammad Nazeem Khalil Ahmed, who had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control, were local farmers of village Terraban along the LoC and not members of any proscribed organisation, the ISPR said Saturday. “Two Pakistani citizens, who belong to proscribed terrorist outfit LeT, were apprehended by an Indian army,” India's Lt Gen KJS Dhillon said at a news conference in Srinagar a few days ago. According to the ISPR, the Pakistani officials had told Indian officials that the two men had accidentally crossed the LoC during a weekly hotline contact. "Indian authorities had acknowledged and informed that routine legal formalities are taking place and they shall get back on that account," the ISPR said in a statement. "Later, on September 2, Indian media fabricated the facts and declared both innocent individuals as members of a proscribed organisation." A police official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir had contacted the Khursheedabad police station on August 21 and filed a missing persons report. Raja Jamil, the police official, told Anadolu Agency that their parents believed that the men were picked up by Indian soldiers, while they were working on their fields. The ISPR said that the two men were forced to give confessional statement under duress. "The attempt is another Indian effort to prepare grounds for a false flag operation," the ISPR said. Follow SAMAA English on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.