Hizb threats, Midnight arrests cast shadow over the last leg of polling in Valley

On the night of 30 April, government forces showed up as part of what appeared as a normal midnight showdown to hunt for militants in the Sheikhpora area of Muran village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. But the raid and subsequent detention ended up dragging a howling minor, Shahid Reyaz Thoker, 12, out of his bed. The masked government forces, armed with automatic weapons, didn’t explain much to his pleading parents and swiftly whisked away the wailing juvenile in an armoured vehicle. By daybreak, it was known that Thoker was…

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