Kashmir Valley tense after Kulgam killings, Andrabi arrested

Srinagar: Kashmir Valley was tense on Monday, a day after eight people including four local militants, two Army jawans and two civilians were killed and nearly twenty people were injured in a fierce gunfight and subsequent clashes between irate crowds and security forces in a remote village of southern Kulgam district.

Amid uneasy situation and rising tempers, the separatists called for a one-day strike on Monday and asked people to march in Kulgam on Wednesday. The strike call was widely obeyed by people, greatly affecting normal life.

In fresh clashes between irate crowds and security forces, at least, half a dozen people were injured in Palhallan and Keemwa areas. Kulgam district and Shopian town were placed under curfew.

Meanwhile, police on Monday took all-women Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief, Sayeda Aasiya Andrabi, in “preventive custody” and lodged her in a women’s police station in Srinagar’s Raj Bagh area.

The party spokesperson and general secretary Naheeda Nasreen said that the police raided Sayeda Aasiya’s residence in Srinagar’s Soura 90-feet area and “arrested” her along with her personal secretary Sofi Fahmeeda.