Srinagar/New Delhi: Tensions have heightened in Kashmir after three civilians were killed and 16 others injured in security forces’ action against stone-pelting crowd near the site of an encounter at Chadoora in Budgam district on Tuesday.
While the encounter and clashes were on, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti appealed to local militants to shun violence and return to mainstream “as nothing can be achieved through violence and gun.”
The slain youths were identified as Zahid Rashid Ganaie, Saqib Ahmed Butt and Ashfaq Ahmed.
Witnesses and hospital sources said that Ganaie and Butt were hit by bullets as security forces fired live ammunition to disperse surging crowds shouting slogans and hurling stones at them in their attempt to help the lone militant escape. They were shifted to hospital where they died.
The militant, identified as Tauseef Ahmed Magray of Kulgam district, was killed and a paratrooper was injured in the encounter, which lasted for ten hours.
Police sources said that security forces fired mortars and also used explosives to blow up a private house to “neutralise” the heavily-armed militant who had earlier made an abortive attempt to flee.
Pellet guns can be used in J&K
Pellet guns may be used to disperse and quell rioters and stone-throwers in the Kashmir Valley if the alternatives prove ineffective, the government told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The use of pellet guns and their role in causing widespread injuries often resulting in blinding of stone-throwing youths has been a subject of intense debate in recent times.
