1 more youth dies after fresh protests break out in Kashmir, death toll rises to 47
Srinagar: At least one person was killed and another injured in security forces’ firing on protesters at Charsoo in southern Pulwama district, as several parts of the Kashmir Valley erupted after Friday prayers with slogan-chanting crowds taking to the streets. Two more youth were also injured as security forces opened fire at neighbouring Kakapora and in north-western town of Sopore, reports said.
Witnesses and hospital sources said the slain youth Mushtaq Ahmed had been hit in the head when police opened fire at protesters at Charsoo. He was first taken to a hospital at Pampore, the nearest town, where doctors on seeing his condition referred him to Srinagar’s government-run Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospitals but doctors declared him brought dead.
The other youth injured at Kakapora and brought to the SMHS has received pellet injuries, doctors said. The Sopore youth too has received a bullet wound in his head but his condition was ‘stable’, doctors said.
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Yet another youth among those injured during the initial period of the ongoing turbulence succumbed in a Srinagar hospital early Friday. With these two deaths the number of those killed in security forces' firings and other actions during past 14 days has risen to 47. Unofficial reports put the toll at 50.
Police and central security forces are enforcing curfew strictly in Srinagar and other cities and towns of the Valley on the fourteenth day running Friday.
Friday congregational prayers were not allowed at Srinagar’s historic Grand Mosque and some other major places of worship. However, Friday namaz was offered in mohalla mosques and also at Hazratbal shrine on the shores of Dal Lake. At places, curfew-defying crowds took to the streets to chant pro-freedom slogans and soon clashed with security forces.
Kashmir Valley erupted earlier this month following the killing of a popular militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani by troops. More than 3,000 people have been injured, over 150 of them maimed and blinded in pellet gun firings by security forces on protesters who took to the streets in huge numbers to mourn and protest Burhan’s killing and later also over the deaths in security forces’ actions against violence mobs across the scenic Valley.
As the alleged indiscriminate use of pellet guns on protesters has come in for severe criticism within and outside the country with human rights groups and political parties calling for an end to it.
Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, told Parliament on Thursday that a committee of experts will be set up to suggest ‘alternative’ to pellet guns. Singh is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar on Saturday to review the prevailing situation.
Officials sources said that the Home Minister has been briefed about the “alarming nature’ of the situation after which he decided to personally visit Srinagar and meet senior government functionaries, officers of police and other security forces, local commanders of Army and leaders and representatives of various mainstream political parties.
On Thursday, a joint meeting of these parties held here in Srinagar to deliberate on current unrest in the Valley had called for engaging all stakeholders in Kashmir in an effort to “carry forward the peace and reconciliation process” in the restive State.
It also asked for converting what it said was political consensus arrived at the meet into a national initiative for addressing the problems confronting Jammu and Kashmir and its people.
The meeting recognised the fact that the incidents and events unfolding in the Valley were not merely a law and order problem but essentially a political issue.
Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, who had convened the meeting asked for “taking all the stakeholders on board as part of a politically-inclusive agenda to address the problems confronting Jammu and Kashmir.
She also called for reviving the dialogue process with Pakistan to ensure peace and stability in the region. The participants with a couple of “quiet” exceptions in one voice called for an end to the use of controversial pellet guns by the security forces as these have maimed and blinded scores of youth during ongoing turmoil as well.
Endorsing them, the Chief Minister said, “I’m especially pained by the grievous eye injuries caused to some youth because of the pellets guns this cruel method of crowd control will have to be done away with, sooner the better”.
Meanwhile, J&K’s Minister for Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution Department (CA&PD) Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali on Friday said that there is no shortage of essential commodities in the Valley.
After reviewing the stock and supply position and distribution process across the Valley, the Minister said that 1,295 truckloads of essential commodities have crossed Lower Munda (along Jammu-Srinagar highway) while there is sufficient stock of LPG for 17 days and petroleum products for one month in the Valley.
“There is no shortage of essential commodities in the Valley and the CA&PD Department is having sufficient stock which is being distributed in every corner of Kashmir,” he said.
