Fresh tension grips J&K after youth dies in hospital

Srinagar: Renewed tension gripped parts of the Kashmir Valley, including northern town of Kangan and its neighbourhood, on Sunday after a youth injured in security forces action against protesters earlier this month succumbed in a Srinagar hospital.

A resident of Chattergul village outside Kangan, the youth, Aamir Lone, was injured on April 3 and died in Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) early on Sunday. Soon after the news reached, Kangan, the highway town, and neighbouring areas witnessed a spontaneous shutdown and protests by surging crowds at places. Later during the day, thousands of mourners attended the funeral of the slain youth. Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani spoke to the participants on telephone asking them to remain steadfast on “our genuine freedom struggle nourished by blood of thousands of martyrs”.

The authorities immediately suspended high speed Internet in the area, while all entry and exit routes beyond the district headquarters of Ganderbal were sealed by the reinforcements of security forces.