Ahead of Rajnath Singh visit, Valley shut over killings
The blast had taken place inside a damaged house in which an encounter had taken place in Kulgam's Laroo village earlier on Sunday.
Srinagar: Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu region’s Chenab Valley were shut on Monday to mourn and protest the killing of seven civilians in an explosion and injuries to scores of others in it and subsequent clashes with security forces in southern Kulgam and neighbouring Anantnag district on Sunday.
The escalation prompted Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, to ask New Delhi to come forward to address the issue of Kashmir to end the cycle of violence in the state.
Home minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive here on a daylong visit on Tuesday to review the situation with governor Satya Pal Malik and other functionaries of the government.
On Monday, Mr Khan said in a tweet, “Strongly condemn the new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris in IOK by Indian security forces. It is time India realised it must move to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue in accordance with the UN SC resolutions & the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”
J&K’s oldest political party, National Conference (NC), also urged the Centre to initiate dialogue on Kashmir and asserted that the current situation demands sincere conciliatory process.
The call for the one-day strike had been issued by an alliance of key separatist leaders, called ‘Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL),’ which has accused the security forces of inflicting terrible atrocities on the people of Kashmir. The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) endorsed the strike call.
The blast had taken place inside a damaged house in which an encounter had taken place in Kulgam’s Laroo village earlier on Sunday. Three militants belonging to outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit were killed and two soldiers injured in the fighting.
The JRL has mailed a petition to the Secretary-General of United Nations, Antonio Guterres, asking it “to stop being a mute spectator and play its role in putting an end to the extreme repression people are being subject to by the Indian state by taking urgent steps for the resolution of Kashmir dispute, which is the main cause of all suffering and human rights violations of people of Kashmir.”