Mobs defy curfew; 1 dead, 23 hurt in Kashmir

One person was killed and 23 others, including 9 security personnel, were injured in violence in Kashmir on Friday. Irate mobs defied curfew in many parts of the Valley and indulged in stone-pelting. Besides, some suspected militants allegedly attacked a police station with grenade.

Due to trouble in Kashmir, the Amarnath yatra was suspended for the second consecutive day, with no pilgrims being allowed to move towards the Valley from Jammu.

The authorities had imposed curfew in all 10 districts of Kashmir, fearing trouble, as it was the first Friday after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. However, mobs defied curfew at many places, including Kupwara, Baramulla, Sopore, Ganderbal, Rafiabad, Bandipora, Kulgam and Pulwama, a police official said.

At Drugmulla in Kupwara district, a mob targeted security forces, who retaliated, in which three civilians were injured, a police official said. One of the injured, Mushtaq Ahmad Ganie, succumbed to injuries later, he said. With this, the toll in the ensuing unrest has shot up to 37, including one policeman.

An irate mob attacked a police patrol party with stones at Delina in Baramulla district n Friday morning, injuring three security personnel, the official said. The security forces, too, opened fire at the protesters, in which three civilians were injured. The condition of all injured is stated to be stable, he added.

A youth suffered grievous injuries when security forces opened fire on stone-pelting mobs at Manigam in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, the official said, adding he was undergoing surgery at the SMHS Hospital.

A mob indulged in stone-pelting in Sopore and in the retaliatory action, four persons sustained pellet injuries. Two others were injured in clashes in nearby Pattan town, the official said. Two others were injured in a minor incident in Shopian district town, he said.

Yaripora area in Kulgam saw a grenade attack, followed by firing on a police station during stone-pelting. Six police personnel were injured in the incident, the official said. 

“Someone from the mob hurled a grenade towards the police personnel while pelting stones at the police station Yaripora. The grenade attack was followed by firing,” he said.

The police have been saying that militants, using protesting civilians as shield, attacked security personnel.

Curfew had been imposed as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in the Valley, where 36 people have lost their lives and over 3,100, including 1,500 security personnel, have been injured in the week-long clashes so far.

The decision to impose curfew was taken in view of apprehensions that vested interests might exploit the large gatherings at Friday prayers to instigate violence, an official said. With curfew clamped in the Valley, Friday prayers could not be offered in many prominent mosques, including the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.

Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in strength across the Valley for strict implementation of the prohibitory orders, the official said. Authorities had also pulled the plug on mobile telephone services in the Valley to prevent rumour-mongering.

“Only postpaid connections of BSNL are working,” he said. Mobile Internet services, too, remained suspended for the seventh consecutive day, while trains are also off the tracks in the Valley as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, separatists have extended the shutdown call in Kashmir by two days till July 18. All top separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, have been placed under house arrest of taken into preventive custody by the authorities since the clashes broke out last Saturday.