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Strict curfew after fresh clashes
SRINAGAR: A day after terrorists struck a military camp in Uri, protests erupted in some parts of Kashmir while strict curfew and restrictions kept people indoors
SRINAGAR: A day after terrorists struck a military camp in Uri, protests erupted in some parts of Kashmir while strict curfew and restrictions kept people indoors in other regions.
A government high school was gutted after security forces fired tear gas shells to quell a protest in Vihil area of Shopian district, locals said.
Although police confirmed the incident, they did not state the reason behind the fire.
Sources said people had defied restrictions in the area and came out in hundreds to participate in a pro-freedom rally, which the forces thwarted. Scores of people were injured in the ensuing clash.
Police sources said curfew remained imposed in Pulwama district and parts of Srinagar city on Monday. According to the protest calendar of the separatist leadership in Kashmir, there was a call for ‘Freedom March’ to Baramulla, Pulwama and Srinagar towns.
People in Downtown Srinagar, which remained peaceful on Monday, said security personnel enforced a strict curfew ensuring that people stayed indoors.
“Uniformed men outside aren’t letting people go out which they usually do,” said a 25-year-old resident of old city in Srinagar.
The Uri attack has raised apprehensions that security forces might start “crushing civilian protests” in a more aggressive way.
In a statement released late on Sunday, the state government said 56 people had been arrested in a strict crackdown on “miscreants”.
Normal life remained disrupted in the Valley for the 73rd day since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani which triggered violent protests and clashes across Kashmir, claiming 86 lives and injuring thousands.
Schools, colleges and other educational institutions remained shut, and mobile telephone services, except postpaid BSNL connections, and mobile internet services remained cut.
Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had on Sunday said that the people of the state “shall have to bear the maximum brunt of the fresh attempts being made to step up violence and trigger fresh bloodshed in the state”.
Officials in the state’s security establishment observed that an Uri-like attack boosts the anti-India sentiment which is ripe in a large section of Kashmiri society.
In the unrest that unfolded after Wani’s death, police have claimed that there were multiple instances of weapons being snatched from them, grenades lobbed and police stations set on fire.
But many fear that if security forces tackle the unrest with an iron-fist, Kashmiri civilians might bear the brunt of the same.
