Kashmir tensions high after authorities kill four people

Tensions in Kashmir are on a knife edge after a shootout by the Indian authorities left four men dead, with families alleging the gunfight was staged and that police used innocent civilians as a “human shield”. Police initially described the incident, which took place on 15 November when officers raided a shopping complex, as a counter-insurgency operation in which two militants and their associates had been killed. The families of three of the men, however, accused Indian forces of murder and the case has sent ripples of outrage across a region scarred by allegations of extrajudicial killings. India’s top regional official has called an inquiry and a shutdown protest strike took place last Friday.