Protests erupt in Kashmir again over new killings, curfew violated in Srinagar
Srinagar: Protests erupted in many parts of Kashmir Valley on Wednesday following the killing of two more civilians, one of them a casual security guard at an ATM kiosk in summer capital Srinagar.
The 20-year-old Riyaz Ahmed Shah’s autopsy report says that as many as 360 pellets had been embedded in his body resulting in his instant death. His family said that he was returning home from duty at an ATM in Srinagar's Kani kadal area on a scootie (motorbike) when he was stopped at a makeshift security check-point in City's Syed Mansoor Sahib locality. He was allegedly beaten up and then shot from a close range late Tuesday night.
The incident evoked anger and outrage in Srinagar and hundreds of residents defied curfew to join his funeral on Wednesday afternoon. Protests are underway and have turned violent at some places. Mosque loudspeakers are reverberating pro-freedom slogans and rebellious songs.
Police confirmed the death and said they are investigating who shot Shah and in what circumstances. The PDP-BJP government is, so far, silent on the incident but former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his National Conference party termed it as "yet another shocking proof of brutality and barbarism".
They lashed out at present incumbent Mehbooba Mufti for what they alleged is her insensitive, obtuse remarks over the course of the last few days and said the Chief Minister’s "shocking insensitivity had emboldened the brutal response to the current unrest in the Valley".
Abdullah also accused the Centre of being oblivious to the ongoing unrest in the Valley. He tweeted, “Two more protestors killed last night. The CM (Ms.Mufti) still wants to behave as though it’s business as usual but why is the centre oblivious?”
The separatists, on the other hand, are up in arms against the civilian killings and have asked the people to continue to hold protests against “Indian occupation, repression and brutalities.”
Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who are part of a recently formed ‘issue-based’ loose alliance of separatists sat on dharna outside their respective residences in Srinagar to protest against the killings. A placard at these protest sit-ins read “Stop genocide in Kashmir’. Another said “Save Kashmir’ and yet another ‘Stop State terrorism’.
