2 more dead, Valley remains shut

On another day of mayhem and violence in Kashmir, at least two youth were killed and over 100 people were injured on Saturday.

The latest fatalities during security forces’ action against protesters and stone-pelting mobs took place in southern Shopian and Anantnag districts, a day after home minister Rajnath Singh said that the civil unrest in the Valley would be brought under control soon.

Mr. Singh visited the Valley three times July. An all-party delegation from Delhi also visited Srinagar and Jammu recently, but failed to break the ice.

However, Mr Singh had claimed on Friday that there was a perceptional change after the visit.

Reports said that security forces fired teargas canisters and pellet shots to break up protests and quell stone-pelting mobs at Tukroo in Shopian and Batengoo in Anantnag, and about half-a-dozen places elsewhere in the Valley on Saturday.

Yawar Mushtaq Dar, 23, died of deep pellet wounds he received in abdomen and chest during a protest at Batengoo whereas 25-year-old Sayar Ahmed Sheikh suffered head injuries after he was hit by a teargas shell in Tukroo village, the police said. Both were declared dead on arrival at hospitals.

The killings to led escalation in the intensity of the protests and stone-pelting at both these places and also in some neighbouring areas. Intense protests took place later during the day in various places in the districts of Kulgam, Anantnag, Shopian, Pulwama, Srinagar, Budgam and Baramulla.

In Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and neighbouring areas, hordes of youth went round asking the traders to bring their shutters down to show “reverence” to the slain youth, witnesses said. The marketplaces had opened for night hours at 6 pm to obey the protest calendar issued by an alliance of key separatist leaders.

At Batengo, witnesses said, the police and CRPF targeted the funeral procession of a slain youth. A single-storey government school was gutted after it caught fire during the incident. While the locals said that a few teargas shells landed inside the building resulting into conflagration, the police said that “miscreants” torched it.

A police spokesman here said that about 200 and 500 people attacked the deployments of security forces including police at Batengoo and Turkoo, respectively and confirmed the two deaths in their retaliatory action. The spokesman added that the “miscreants” also set Government High School building to fire at Batengoo. However, the locals claimed that the clashes started at both these places after the security forces charged “peaceful” protests and “vandalized” the venues of the proposed ‘aazadi’ rallies. The latest killings have taken the death toll to 78 in past nine weeks and most of these fatal injuries occurred in government forces’ firings, beatings and other actions during their tough campaign launched to subdue the widespread unrest triggered by the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani on July 8. More than ten thousand civilians have been injured whereas two policemen also died in mob violence. Home Ministry officials had two days ago said that about 5,500 security personnel have suffered injuries in stone-pelting and other mob attacks during this period. As the south Kashmir districts-Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian refuse to cool and witness huge protests and clashes on daily basis, the Army Chief, General Dalbir Singh visited the region on Friday to review the security situation. He later held separate meetings with Governor N.N. Vohra and Director General of Police K. Rajendra Kumar here to assure them the Army’s “fullest support” towards containing the unrest. Reports said that thousands of Army troops brought mainly from Jammu areas have been deployed in South Kashmir. They have taken up positions close to civilian areas or have been attached with existing Army units and camps, mainly those of the counterinsurgency Rashtriya Rifles. Although the Army has already been playing a role in containing the unrest, it is to be seen what would be the responsibility of the additional troops or for the Army as an institution in the given situation. There has been no official confirmation to reports that the Army would be used in clamping down on protesters and even in crowd control. Another report suggested that the increased presence of the Army in these areas would be to send a signal to the protesters through “area domination” and “enhanced patrolling” and also to simultaneously step up patrols against militants who have appeared at few ‘pro-freedom’ rallies in South Asian-sometimes armed and, on other occasions, unarmed. According to defence spokesman Lt. Col. N.N. Joshi, the Army Chief at his meetings in the Valley on Friday had while reinforcing the need to maintain high vigil both in the hinterland and along the Line of Control urged the troops to “sensitise the people especially the youth to eschew violence to usher in peace at the earliest”. He also asked for stepping up the teamwork by various security forces and “synergising” efforts with all other stakeholders to bring about normalcy in the Valley. Meanwhile, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, said she was upset after coming to know about the latest killings. “I don’t know what to say, I am slightly upset because as I was leaving for this place, my secretary told me that in Shopian yet again a boy, who was pelting stones, has died, so I am slightly upset today,” she said during a function in Jammu.

Opposition National Conference leaders in a joint statement expressed grief and shock over the killings and said that the situation in Kashmir is deteriorating with every passing day. They blamed the situation on “insensitive comments and speeches” by the Chief Minister and said her behaviour was “adding fuel to a fire that threatened to engulf the entire State”.