Clashes in Srinagar during stir against verdict on Yasin Malik

Protests against the court’s verdict erupted in Maisuma locality – Malik’s native place which is at a short distance from Lal Chowk city centre – as his supporters and relatives arrived at his house and raised slogans demanding his release.

Clashes erupted between supporters of Yasin Malik and security forces in Srinagar on Wednesday after a Delhi court sentenced the Kashmiri separatist leader to life in a 2017 terror funding case.

Protests against the court’s verdict erupted in Maisuma locality – Yasin Malik’s native place which is at a short distance from Lal Chowk city centre – as his supporters and relatives arrived at his house and raised slogans demanding his release. (AP)

Protests against the court’s verdict erupted in Maisuma locality – Malik’s native place which is at a short distance from Lal Chowk city centre – as his supporters and relatives arrived at his house and raised slogans demanding his release. Several parts of the city, meanwhile, observed a shutdown against the verdict.

As the crowd at Malik’s house increased, police and personnel belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force wearing anti-riot gear arrived at the spot.

According to police officials familiar with the matter, the protesters took out a march around the area and tried to move towards Maisuma Chowk when they clashed with security forces. Some of them pelted stones on the security forces who fired tear smoke shells to disperse the crowd.

However, there was no report of any injury, the officials said.

“Yasin Malik is a political prisoner and this case is all about politics… he is being punished for pursuing the aspirations of a majority of the people in Kashmir,” one of the neighbours said on condition of anonymity.

Mobile internet services were suspended in some parts of the city while additional forces were deployed across Srinagar, especially in the old city. Police also deployed drone cameras to monitor the crowd outside Malik’s house.

HT reached out to Kashmir IGP Vijay Kumar for a comment but did not get one immediately.

The Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), meanwhile, termed “unfortunate” the life imprisonment awarded to Malik and said it is a “setback” to the efforts for peace.

“We are afraid that this will further compound the uncertainties in the region and will only fuel more alienation and separatist feelings. NIA Court has delivered its verdict but not justice,” PAGD spokesman, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami said in a statement.

Hitting out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a section of the media, Tarigami said: “The triumphalism being displayed by the BJP and the corporate media is bound to prove counterproductive.”

J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina welcomed the Delhi court’s order, saying that the separatist leader “deserved it for the sins committed against the people and the country”.

“He (Malik) himself pleaded guilty before the NIA court which has now awarded him the life sentence. We welcome the decision of our judiciary which has always acted in an impartial manner,” he said.