Curfew was relaxed for four hours by rotation in Srinagar areas on Saturday even as three more protesters were killed and 17 injured in police firing in southern Anantnag, and at Palhalan, in north-western Baramulla district.
The relaxation in round-the-clock curfew, in force in Srinagar with other cities and towns of the Kashmir Valley since last Sunday, passed off peacefully except for pro-freedom protests in some areas, including Batmaloo.
In the areas under the jurisdiction of police stations Saddar, Shaeed Gunj, Sadder, Shergari, Batmaloo, Rajbagh, Panthachowk, Nowgam, Kothibagh, Ram Munshi Bagh, Nishat and Harwan curfew was lifted for four hours from noon and in other parts of the city from 3 pm, the police said.
In Anantnag, 55 km south of here, security forces opened fire on a funeral procession, killing one civilian and wounding at least 12 others. Thousands of people defied the curfew to participate in the funeral of a 17-year-old boy whose body was fished out of the Jhelum at nearby Bijbehara days after he drowned while being chased by CRPF personnel trying to break up a protest demonstration in Anantnag.
The police, however, said curfew was lifted in Anantnag on a tentative basis in the morning but that during its relaxation a mob attacked and tried to ransack the house of a local Samajwadi Party leader, Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, damaging its outer wall. The mob also attempted to harm the politician’s family members.
“In the effort to bring the situation under control, one person, Noor Amin Dagga, was killed and seven others, including two women, were injured,” the police said, adding that one of the injured persons is Bilal Ahmad Najar, a district president of the youth wing of the Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). However, witnesses said security forces opened fire on people mourning the death of the youth. Residents of Anantnag denied attacking the politician’s home and alleged it was an unprovoked firing.
At Palhalan, a mob blocked the Srinagar-Baramulla highway and allegedly started hurling stones at security personnel, who fired live ammunition to bring the situation under control. Six persons were injured and two of them, Ansar Ahmed Tantray and Ali Muhammad, died in hospital later. Earlier, a Srinagar youth injured in CRPF firing on protesters in the city’s Bemina area earlier this week also succumbed, raising the toll in weeks of unrest to 103.
A report from Kupwara district said a civilian was injured when security forces opened fire at a group of people at Hirri Tregham, a remote village of the frontier district. He was identified as Shameem Sofi. It could not be ascertained immediately what prompted the security forces to open fire. Reports pouring in from different parts of the Valley quote residents alleging that the Army and other security forces inflicted excesses in their effort to control the unrest. The authorities in Srinagar denied the charge but said security around Army camps and patrolling in various areas across the Valley have been stepped up after Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani issued a diktat to the people to stage protest sit-ins in front of Army camps.