Toll 32; fresh protests in Srinagar; DU student dies of wounds sustained on Monday.
Parts of the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday witnessed fresh protests and violent clashes, leaving at least one person dead and more than 30 people injured.
One protester was killed and another wounded in security forces’ firing on a mob which allegedly attacked a police station in frontier Kupwara district. Also, one of the three protesters injured in police firing in the highway town of Bijbehara on Monday succumbed in a Srinagar hospital overnight.
With the latest fatal injuries, the toll in the days of mayhem triggered by the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, the new-age poster-boy of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, in an encounter with security forces on July 8 has risen to 32. Among them is a police driver Afroz Ahmed killed when an irate crowd pushed the vehicle he was driving into River Jhelum at Sangam outside Srinagar on Saturday.
Police sources said that one person identified as Zahoor Ahmad Sheikh was killed and another wounded when security forces opened fire on a mob which targeted a police station at Kralapora in frontier district of Kupwara on Tuesday afternoon. A statement issued by the police here said the mob also torched a police vehicle trapping some policemen inside. “While dealing with the incident, one person was injured who later on succumbed to his injuries,” it added. A report said the second youth has also succumbed to his injuries in hospital but the authorities here said they have not received any such report from the counterparts in Kupwara.
Earlier, Amir Nazir Latoo, a student of Delhi University, among three people critically injured in police firing at Zirpora in the highway town of Bijbehara on Monday died in a Srinagar hospital overnight. Amir, who was pursuing M. Com at DU, had come to Kashmir to celebrate Id ul-Fitr with his family. A report from southern Pulwama district said that a mob barged into the house of one police official, Muhammad Ashraf, and thrashed his wife and daughter. The victims have been hospitalised. Police officials said that Ashraf was away on duty when the incident occurred.
CM Mehbooba Mufti discussed the prevailing situation and other important issues with governor N.N. Vohra at an hour-long meeting held at the Raj Bhavan here. She has, in a Kashmir martyrs’ day eve message, said that J&K police and the paramilitary forces have been asked to exercise maximum restrain to avoid loss of lives or grievous injuries to protesters. “Security forces were told to exhibit restraint while dealing with protests. It is sad that despite taking all measures lives were lost,” she said promising, “Incidents where security personnel have acted harshly and have used excess force will be investigated and dealt with.”
The CM again sought the cooperation of the people in restoration of peace and normalcy in Kashmir. “I appeal to everyone to help us in bringing back peace and normalcy in the state,” she said.
She, however, alleged that some people were playing politics over the dead bodies and reiterated “It is the family members of these slain youth who have to live with this pain forever.”
A statement issued by the police here in the evening said that incidents of arson and mob attacks besides “stray and intermittent” incidents of stone pelting were reported from various areas in the Valley’s Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipore, Kupwara and Srinagar districts.
“Miscreants set ablaze a police guardroom at Gadbugh, a minority picket guard room at Batnag, Tral and another one at a police post in Pulwama,” it said.
It said a petrol bomb was tossed towards a J&K police-CRPF posse at Gachi Mohalla, Safa Kadal in Srinagar without causing any casualties though.
“During stone pelting on police and CRPF deployment in Bijbehara stone-pelter Arhan Mir picked up a tearsmoke shell, which exploded in his hand resulting injuries to him,” the statement said.
Though the officials have confirmed only 24 fatal casualties saying there is no record on the remaining eight available with them, they did confirm that more than 1,400 people have been injured in security forces firings and other actions and stone pelting incidents besides over 150 security personnel since Friday night and that Srinagar hospitals have been overwhelmed by the injured. Hospital sources said that about 400 people have received above waist line bullet and pellet injuries and 62 of them may lose their eyesight as they have been hit in their eyes during pellet gun firings on protesters by security forces.
Already, the authorities have declared medical emergency at the hospitals and other medical facilities and volunteers have, meanwhile, set up free langars (community kitchens) to feed the attendants of the injured and other needy in Srinagar. However, these hospitals are facing shortage of medicines and blood and appeals are being made to donors to come forward and help the authorities towards coping with the situation.
On Tuesday, the authorities cancelled all the leaves sanctioned in favour of faculty and other staff of Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) medical college hospital till further orders with immediate effect. Also, the summer vacations for the faculty of Government-run Medical College at Srinagar which were to begin on July 16 have been put on hold till further orders. The Principal of the college asked all the faculty members to report for duties immediately.
However, minister for health and medical education, Bali Bhagat, said that the State health department collected more than 225 blood points in specially held blood donation camps at various places in the Valley. “There is no dearth of blood in district health institutions, Government Medical College & Hospital or associated hospitals to meet any exigency. Also, the health institutions of the Valley have adequate stock of life saving drugs and surgical equipments,” he said.
Srinagar with rest of the Valley continued to reel under strict curfew on third and fourth consecutive day on Tuesday. Protests by curfew-defying crowds have continued and there have been fresh clashes at places but either their intensity was not as high as witnessed during past three days or the security forces exercised restraint while handling the situations.
Due to days of strict restrictions in cities and towns, the residents have said that they are running short of eatables and other essential commodities besides medicines and baby food. Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir), Asghar Hassan Samoon, said 1,000 truckloads of essential commodities moved from Jammu to Valley on Monday night and have started arriving in Srinagar.
Officials said that notwithstanding the prevailing law and order situation in the Valley the annual Amarnath yatra is underway and on Tuesday 4,455 devotees paid obeisance at the cave-shrine in Pahalgam hills. With that as many as 137, 719 pilgrims have had darshan of the Ice Lingam at the revered cave-shrine in the first eleven days of the 48-day-long yatra, they said. A report from Jammu said that a fresh batch of 4,000 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar transit camp for the Valley in ninety vehicles under heavy security.
Meanwhile, thousands of people on Tuesday visited the house of Wani in Tral, 42-km south of here, to offer condolences to his father Muzaffar Ahmed Wani and other family members on his 4th day ceremony or Rasm-e-Qul. Large number of people also turned up at the Hizb commander’s grave to offer fateha prayers. The town has been dotted with banners and hoardings and one of these read ‘Burhan-the pride of the Kashmiri Nation’. Also, the youth of the town have used graffiti on the town’s walls as a means to express themselves on Burhan Wani and the ‘cause’ he espoused.
