Kashmir mobs defy curfew, two protesters injured

SRINAGAR - Curfew was imposed in the Kashmir Valley Saturday as curfew-defying mobs pelted stones at police and paramilitary vehicles and security forces resorted to firing, injuring two protesters.

“Except for Ganderbal, Bandipora and Awantipora districts, curfew has been imposed in the entire valley today (Saturday) to prevent violence. The situation is being closely monitored,” a senior police officer said.

Police personnel and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) contingents have been deployed in summer capital Srinagar and all other major towns in north and south Kashmir areas.

Residents in Ganderbal, Awantipora and Bandipora said authorities placed restrictions to prevent any pedestrian or vehicular movement there.

A mob of angry protesters pelted stones at passing police and CRPF vehicles in Singhpora village, about 20 km from here, in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway.

Two people were injured in retaliatory action by the security forces.

One of the injured reportedly suffered a bullet injury and has been admitted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura (SKIMS) in Srinagar. A doctor at the hospital said the injured person was stable.

Another mob smashed a vehicle of the Border Roads Organisation in Wanabal area on the outskirts of Srinagar city.

A bus carrying staff to the Srinagar international airport was also attacked and damaged by a mob at Sheikhpora in central Badagam district, 12 km from here.

Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani has called for a valley wide protest Saturday against what he claimed “the barbaric killings of four innocent civilians by Indian security forces yesterday (Friday)”.

Roads in Srinagar are completely deserted as an eerie silence prevails in the city. This is occasionally broken when security forces vehicles pass along the city roads.

Four people were killed and 47 others, including security men and protesters, were injured in clashes between unruly stone pelting mobs and the security forces here Friday.

The toll of civilians killed in the present cycle of unrest and violence since June 11 has gone up to 55.