After days of calm, fresh violence erupted in Srinagar leaving three persons dead following which indefinite curfew was clamped in Srinagar on Tuesday.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar on Monday and restrictions were put in place in other towns to thwart a march called by separatists.To protest the killing of three teenagers allegedly by the police, the hard-line separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to march to south Kashmir's Anantnag town on Monday.The forces beefed up security arrangements in the old city area of Srinagar.
Police fired warning shots and lobbed teargas shells to disperse stone-pelting protestors during two-hour curfew relaxation in old Anantnag town on Saturday morning even as authorities imposed curfew in two more areas of Trehgam and Kupwara towns after agitation by locals.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Omar Abdullah Friday said no amount of economic development and prosperity would suffice unless matched with the political aspirations of people of the state.
Sensing trouble ahead of a proposed march by separatists, authorities on Friday brought the entire Srinagar district under curfew.With overnight protests in the city and an abortive attempt by activists of a woman separatist outfit to take out a march to Pather Masjid in defiance of curfew on Thursday, District Magistrate of Srinagar Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo announced the imposition of curfew in the entire Srinagar district on Friday morning.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar and other towns on Thursday evening to scuttle Friday's proposed separatist march to Eidgah grounds in the city.
Anantnag, Kulgam and Pulwama are already under curfew following the death of three youths on Monday in clashes between the Central Reserve Police Force and stone-pelters. Anantnag and Pahalgam towns fall on the Jammu-Pahalgam pilgrimage route. But those taking the North Kashmir Baltal route to reach the cave shrine have to pass through Bijbehara, Awantipore and Pampore towns in the south.
People belonging to different areas of Anantnag assembled at Mattan bus stand on Tuesday morning to protest the killing of five youths in Sopore and Baramulla, police said. Police and paramilitary forces deployed in the town, 65 km from Srinagar, asked them to disperse but when they refused to budge, they fired tear gas shells and batons to disperse them.
The body of Bilal Ahmad Wani, the 23-year old youth killed during clashes with Central Reserve Police Force personnel on Friday, was buried in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday morning. Angry locals carried the body of the youth to the main chowk, shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Security forces fired warning shots and tear smoke shells and resorted to baton charges to disperse the agitated protestors who were trying to march to the police station.
One person was killed when security forces fired a rubber bullet to quell violence in the curfew-bound north Kashmir town of Sopore on Sunday evening.
Even as curfew restrictions were in place in Sopore, angry mobs defied the restrictions at few places engaging the police and paramilitary in clashes.The mobs pelted the security forces who responded with teargas and baton charges. Authorities have moved in fresh reinforcements to enforce the restrictions in the town and maintain law and order.
Security forces opened fire at a violent mob that attacked and torched a Central Reserve Police Force vehicle in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Friday, killing two persons and injuring three others.The security forces were on their way back from Krankshivan locality in Sopore, where two Lashkar-e-Tayiba militants were killed after a fierce gunfight on Friday evening.When the security forces were returning from the encounter site, the angry mob attacked and torched a vehicle.
Life across Kashmir valley was badly affected on Friday by a protest shutdown called by hard-line separatist leader and All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.The strike had been called to protest against the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.Although authorities didn't impose any restrictions in the old city, security across Srinagar has been beefed up to maintain law and order.
One militant was killed and an army trooper injured in an encounter in Krankshivan locality in north Kashmir's Sopore town.Acting on a specific tip-off about the presence of militants, a house in the locality was surrounded by troops of Rashtriya Rifles and the police on Friday morning, said a senior police officer."The encounter is going on and one militant has been killed. A trooper of the Rashtriya Rifles was also injured in the gunfight," said the officer.
A senior police officer said Colonel Neeraj Sood, commanding officer of the 18 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), was critically injured during an anti-terrorist operation.
Rubber bullet injuries to three youth in north Kashmir Baramulla town and sporadic incidents of violence in other parts of the valley marked the second day of separatist called protest shutdown which paralyzed life in Kashmir Tuesday.
A top terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was killed in the nightlong gunfight in north Kashmir's apple rich Sopore town, 54 kms from Srinagar. Security forces had surrounded a house in Sopore's Baghat locality on Monday morning during which the holed up militants fired at them resulting in critical injuries to a policeman and two Rashtriya Rifles troopers.
Nine people were injured in a string of terror attacks in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday.
The strike called by the two groups of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference brought in a complete shutdown and undeclared curfew in the Valley on Monday, a day after violence left one person dead and over a dozen people injured in police firing Srinagar.
Trouble erupted during the funeral of Rafiq Bangroo, whose family alleged that CRPF troopers beat up the 25-year-old at Noorbagh during last week's protests in Srinagar. Bangroo battled for his life in the medical institute for a week before succumbing to injuries.