Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir forced muslim worshippers in a mosque to raise chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. a former chief minister of the area has claimed.
Mehbooba Mufti, a leader of the People’s Democratic Party and served as the CM from 2016 to 2018, made the claims in a tweet on Saturday.
“Shocked to hear about army troops from 50 RR storming into a mosque at Pulwama & forcing muslims inside to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’,” she wrote.
Indian media sources say that the incident happened on Saturday in a village named Zadoora, in Pulwama.
The 50 Rashtriya rifles are a counter-insurgency force which was set up to specifically serve in Kashmir by the Indian government. Indian authorities have not issued any statement so far.
Mufti also said that the action was an ‘act of provocation’ at a time when Amit Shah was in the region and when the Amarnath Yatra is so close to beginning. The yatra is an annual pilgrimage that attracts Hindu pilgrims from all over India and will begin on July 1.
She has also demanded that the general officer commanding initiate a probe into the matter.
Kashmir is one of the most-militarised regions in the world and is claimed as its own territory by both India and Pakistan who have both gone to war over it. The Indian government has been contiuously been tightening its grip on the Muslim majority region.