The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on November 5, 2014.

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the brutal killing in Chattargram, Kashmir of two innocent schoolboys, one of them a student of Class 7, by the army. Two others were seriously injured in the firing.

The prima facie evidence of the guilt of the personnel concerned demands the immediate arrest and prosecution for murder. This is not the first time that such brutality has taken place by the army but in several of such cases, justice has been denied and the guilty personnel have been protected.

The army gets away with killings of innocent civilians, including children, because of the impunity it enjoys under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The CPI(M) has been demanding the repeal of this Act and its draconian clauses. At least in the interim, the AFSPA should be withdrawn from all civilian areas in Kashmir and be functional only in the border areas.