South Kashmir’s Shopian town remained under curfew for the eleventh day on Tuesday even as a group of Ministers and legislators attempted to assuage resentment by holding talks with a group of selected locals.
The town is under strict restrictions since five persons were killed in two separate shootouts on September 7 and 11. The Central Reserve Police Force is blamed for the shooting.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, leader of a faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference was denied to embark on a visit to Shopian to meet with the relatives of slain civilians.
The authorities have begun a magisterial probe into the shootouts on Monday but no eyewitness has deposed before Deputy Commissioner Bashir Ahmad Bhat, who is the inquiry officer. Sources said that a shootout survivor Adil Ahmad Wachkoo is expected to record his statement on Wednesday.
The curfew was imposed in the southern town on September 7 when CRPF shot dead four persons, hours before German music maestro Zubin Mehta conducted an orchestra in Srinagar’s Shalimar garden. A shutdown was being observed in Kashmir over Zubin show and security had been tightened. The CRPF claimed that the youngsters were militants who carried out attack on their camp and were shot down in retaliation. However, relatives of three persons denied the claims and police confirmed that there was no evidence of their involvement in militancy. The fourth slain person’s identity is an unresolved mystery. locals as also a former Minister Ghulam Hassan Khan maintain that he was a non-local labourer. The J&K Cabinet has asked the police to unravel the mystery behind the shooting.
Another civilian Rafiq Rather was killed on September 11when curfew was relaxed for a few hours. The same CRPF camp located at Gagran was blamed for the killing, though they denied the allegation. The Cabinet has ordered replacement of the camp by personnel of armed wing of J&K police.
On Tuesday, Coalition Ministers Pirzada Sayeed, Mir Saifullah and legislators Nasir Aslam Wani, Altaf Ganai and Majid Magray visited the curfew-bound town and spoke to administration and a select group of locals.
“We tried to speak to civil society members but the town is still under curfew. The administration will assess the situation by the evening and decide whether relaxation can be given on Wednesday,” Nasir Aslam Wani told The Pioneer.
Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani has called for Shopian March on Wednesday, which has made it difficult for the authorities to decide on relaxing restrictions.
Mirwaiz Farooq attempted to embark on a visit to Shopian but police force him to board their vehicle outside the Rajbagh headquarters of Hurriyat Conference. He was later taken to his Nageen bungalow.
Mirwaiz said that if curfew was not lifted from Shopian in next 24 hours, Hurriyat would appeal people to march towards the town. “The people of Shopian have been kept devoid of even basic daily needs like food and medicine. They would not be left at the mercy of gun totting Indian troops,” he said.
Meanwhile, the separatists began to capitalise on the death of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru who was hanged and buried in Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 9, triggering massive resentment in Kashmir. A separatist group, National Front, released a 94-page booklet based on Guru’s letters to his brother in which he has discussed Kashmir’s “freedom struggle” and “role of intellectuals and writers”.
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