SRINAGAR: Casting doubts over the Lolab encounter in which Army claimed to have killed seven militants, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani Tuesday called for  shutdown and protests  on Friday.
The use of “brute force” including firing and lathi-charge on people who were demanding  the bodies of the slain and imposition of curfew in the area was an act of “state-terrorism,” Geelani said in  a statement.
“Due to the rigid policy of Indian rulers, the loss of precious lives of innocent people in Kashmir will continue and Indian forces will continue to kill innocents under suspicious circumstances  and later try to pass them off as encounters,” Geelani said.
He also demanded “independent and impartial investigation into  such incidents.”
“After the establishment of Machill and Pathribal encounters as fake, it has become compulsory for the world community to come forward for the protection of human lives in Kashmir and play their role in exposing the war crimes of Indian occupied forces,” Geelani said.

Reader correspondent