Protests broke out in capital Srinagar on Tuesday soon after the authorities announced to lift the curfew in sensitive areas as hordes of young men hurled stones on withdrawing police and paramilitary personnel. The curfew, however, continued in south Kashmir where most of the deaths occurred due to security forces’ action against protesters in the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8.
Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Farooq lone announced in the morning that curfew has been lifted from the entire district. The separatists had already announced that the people can resume their routine work from 2 pm. The people anticipated that the two announcements would help restore normal life, at least for the day. However, soon after the
security forces began withdrawing from the areas, mostly in the old Srinagar, angry protesters came out shouting slogans and marching towards civil lines areas.
A group of youngsters reached lal Chowk area where it was prevented from proceeding ahead. This led to street battles. Police and paramilitaries fired pellets and teargas shells to disperse the protesters. Similar street battles occurred in several pockets of the old Srinagar.
Sources said that at least 15 persons were admitted to Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar with minor pellet and teargas injuries.
The protesters blocked main roads in Srinagar and disallowed movement of people. The shutdown was enforced by the protesters as strictly as the curfew was implemented by the police during the past 17 days. Eyewitnesses said that the protesters did not even allow ambulances with doctors and medical staff on board to proceed towards the hospitals.
The situation kept the normal life crippled for yet another day. The separatist groups in a joint programme had announced that the shutdown call would be withdrawn from 2 pm to enable people to buy essentials from the market. However, the call was ignored by the protesters indicating that the separatist leaders, too, were not in command of the situation, like the Government led by Mehbooba Mufti.
Meanwhile, a 61-year-old man Mushtaq Ahmad succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital. He had met an accident when he was caught amid a clash between protesters and paramilitaries in Rajouri kadal area of old Srinagar.
The curfew was not relaxed in several south Kashmir areas including Anantnag where most deaths occurred since the turmoil began in Kashmir from July 9, a day after the killing of Burhan Wani. Deputy Inspector General of Police (south Kashmir range) Ghulam Hassan Bhat said that curfew was lifted from Shopian, Pulwama and Awantipora police districts but remained intact in restive Anantnag area. He said the restrictions on assembly of motre than four persons would continue in the area.
The mobile phone services except the state-owned BSNl services remained suspended for the 12th consecutive day. The internet has been snapped on all services except the BSNl’s broadband networks.
In a statement, a police spokesman said that all post paid mobile services were being restored tonight. The spokesman said the situation throughout the Kashmir valley remained peaceful and under control on Tuesday.
“The curfew was lifted from all the towns/areas of entire valley this morning except Anantnag where it was lifted in the afternoon. Shops opened at many places and traffic also plied. There were no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere in the valley although some stray stone pelting incidents were reported from a few places,” the spokesman said.