Violence escalates in Jammu and Kashmir valley; teenager killed, 2 cops arrested
19 April 2015 4:54 AM GMT
Youth killed in police firing
Protesters hurl large wooden logs towards police personnel after clashes erupt over the killing of a youth in Narbal, Srinagar on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)
SRINAGAR: A teenage student was killed in police firing during a clash with an irate crowd at Narabal on the outskirts of Srinagar on Saturday. Two policemen including an ASI involved in the incident have been arrested after a case of murder under Section 302 of the Ranbir Penal Code was registered against them. The authorities have also removed the Station House Officer of Magam police station, Khursheed-ur-Rehman, for “lack of supervision.”
The news of the death of 15-year-old Suhail Ahmed Sofi, a class 10 student, drew hundreds of more angry residents join the protests and clash with police and CRPF. Narabal and adjoining areas witnessed clashes and stone-pelting for rest of the day in which over 20 people including policemen were injured.
The killing took place while a day-long shutdown was being observed in the Valley in response to a call by separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani against the April 13 killing of a 24-year-old Khalid Wani by Army in Tral. Wani’s killing had, once again, triggered tension in Kashmir which only heightened after police arrested separatist leader Massarat Aalam Bhat on Friday, two days after pro-Pakistan slogans were raised and that country’s national flag waved at a rally that he was part of.
J&K police has regretted the killing, saying policemen opened firing in violation of laid down Standard Operating Procedure. The slain teenager’s uncle Shakeel Ahmed Sofi claimed that two policemen dragged him for a distance before shooting him. The state government has ordered a magisterial probe into Sofi’s killing.
Yasin Malik, Swami Agnivesh detained:
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik and social activist Swami Agnivesh, along with several others, were detained by Srinagar police on Saturday soon after they began a march towards Narabal.
“We want to go there to express our solidarity with the family of the teenage student killed in cold blood by security forces,” said Yasin Malik before he and others were detained.
Police said that they were taken into preventive custody as they attempted to undertake a march which could have only added to tensions there. Earlier, they had staged a 30-hour hunger strike and protest sit-in at Maisuma against the government’s controversial move to build separate ‘composite townships’ for Kashmiri Pandits.
( Source : dc )
Next Story
