Two youths were killed on Tuesday while several others were injured as fresh clashes broke out between security forces and stone-pelting protesters in Kashmir where authorities have imposed curfew in all 10 districts.
Soon after Eid prayers ended in Bandipora, a group of protesters started hurling stones at security forces who retaliated by firing tear smoke shells and pellet guns, a police official said.
Clashes were also reported from South Kashmir after a youth, Shahid Ahmed, was killed during fresh protests at Bonpora in Shopian district, another police official said. With these deaths, the toll in the ongoing agitation in Kashmir is now 78.
As turbulence continues unabated in the Valley, the Army has quietly moved an entire brigade into South Kashmir as part of operation ‘Calm Down’ to clear it of militants and protesters. Amid Intelligence reports of a virtual ‘Jungle Raj’ prevailing in the area, with militants and their sympathisers calling the shots, holding protests and blocking arterial roads, nearly 4,000 additional troops have been pressed into service to restore normalcy, but with clear instructions to use minimum force, official sources said.
The troops, mobilised from reserves have fanned out in all the four districts of South Kashmir-Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam. These districts have borne the brunt of the current spiral of violence in the Valley triggered by the encounter killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Wani hailed from this region.
The Army troops assisted by CRPF and the State police are combing the areas minutely and clearing the road blocks put by the protesters by felling trees, electric poles and placing huge boulders and burnt vehicles, to facilitate movement of people, they said.
After “clearing” Karimabad area of Pulwama, the troops have moved into Shopian and Kulgam. The process, which was halted briefly for Bakrid, will resume after the festival, sources said, adding more troops were likely to be pressed into service.
The decision was taken after intelligence reports claimed that Kashmiri youth, armed with batons, stones and petrol bombs, were patrolling the arterial roads leading to the National Highway and preventing people from venturing out of their homes or moving towards Srinagar.
There were reports that around 100 militants had crossed into South Kashmir since the unrest broke out after Wani’s killing on July 8.
The areas where they were suspected to be hiding included Heff-Shrimal in Shopian district, Samboora, lillahar, Pulwama town, Tral and Kakpora of Pulwama district, Qaimooh and Redhwani in Kulgam district and Redhwani in Anantnag district.
Dotted with poplar and pine trees, the adjoining jungles provide the militants a perfect setting for training recruits, officials said. There was information that militants were being trained in Kamla forest of Shopian district but when raids were conducted, nobody could be found.
For the first time since militancy broke out in the State in 1990 that authorities on Tuesday imposed curfew in all 10 districts of the Kashmir Valley on Eid even as helicopters and drones have been pressed into service for surveillance.
Restrictions on assembly of large number of people have been imposed in view of the call by separatists for a march to the local offices of the United Nations on Tuesday, coinciding with the global body’s Opening of 71st Session of the UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York.
The Army, which has been asked to be on standby, will step in if there is fresh outbreak of violence in the Valley, which has been witnessing widespread unrest for over two months leading to death of over 75 people so far, official sources said.