Kashmir human shield row: J&K High Court lawyers protest against army chief's remarks

Srinagar: Work in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in Srinagar was affected on Tuesday as lawyers abstained to protest the recent remarks of Army chief General Bipin Rawat in the context of a Major using a man as a human shield against stone pelters last month.

Lawyers affiliated to Kashmir High Court Bar Association stayed away from work, terming Rawat’s remarks as “inhuman and barbaric”.

In a statement, the association said Rawat’s comments will give a “licence” to the armed forces to “humiliate, torture, kill, maim and blind the innocent people of Kashmir.”

Rawat had stoutly defended Major Leetul Gogoi for using a man as a human shield against stone pelters in Budgam district of Kashmir on 9 April, saying the army is facing a “dirty war” in Jammu and Kashmir which has to be fought through “innovative” ways.

The bar association alleged that image of the army is at its “lowest ebb” and “if there was anything left, that gap has been filled by Major (Leetul) Gogoi by tying an innocent civilian to an army jeep and by parading him from village to village and also by the army chief by awarding him for his innovative method.”