The Army on Thursday conducted a flag-march in curfew-bound Mendhar, in Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Poonch, where angry mobs torched almost all government buildings, offices and vehicles on Wednesday after three youth were killed and over 20 persons injured in police firing on a protest demonstration against the reported desecration of the holy Quran in the US.
Mendhar, Poonch town and almost all major and small towns in the Kashmir Valley where 19 persons were killed in police firing on Monday, continued to be under strict round-the-clock curfew. However, at places curfew-defying crowds clashed with the police and CRPF.
While the government has suspended Mendhar sub-district police officer Vivek Gupta and his bodyguards Abdul Hameed, Vishal Sharma, Gayasuddin Khan, Muhammad Ilyas and Muhammad Asim, and the local police has registered cases of murder against them under Sections 302 and 34 of the Ranbir Panel Code for unprovoked firing on peaceful protesters, the anger against the local police in the hilly township and its neighbourhood has not yet declined.
On Thursday, a protest shutdown closed Rajouri, the largest town in the region. The call for the bandh had been issued by various Muslim groups which also announced three days of mourning for the people killed in police firing. A protest strike was observed in some other parts of the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch while all schools and offices were also shut.
The state government has ordered has ordered a high-level probe into the shooting, which witnesses said was unprovoked. Senior officials, including Jammu region’s divisional commissioner, Mr Pawan Kotwal, and IGP Ashok Gupta, as well as area legislators and local politicians are camping in the town. As tension and protests continued in the town, Army officials late on Wednesday night facilitated a meeting between irate senior citizens and the families of the deceased, state government officials and legislators at the Army camp, defence sources said.
In the Kashmir Valley, crowds hurled rocks at policemen and CRPF personnel at a number of places, injuring at least one policeman at Khanapora, Baramulla. In neighbouring Sopore, clashes occurred at Poth Khah and Chanakhan areas Thursday evening. The CRPF opened fire on the rock-throwing crowds, wounding seven. A police spokesperson here said miscreants resorted to heavy stone-pelting on security forces when they were withdrawing from the areas after day-long deployment and that seven persons were injured in retaliatory action.
A CRPF vehicle turned turtle near Nund Resh Colony, Bemina, during stone-pelting action, injuring five jawans, CRPF spokesperson Prabhakar Tripathi said.
Round-the-clock curfew without relaxation since last Sunday in Srinagar and other Valley towns and strikes called by separatists have caused the population of nearly six million tremendous hardships, including shortage of eatables, medicine and baby food. The authorities on Thursday asked people to get in touch with their area station house officers for emergency health aid and other essential needs, including baby food, and in case of scheduled weddings.
At least four persons were wounded when police and paramilitary CRPF troopers opened fire at a group of youth at Sopur, north Kashmir, on Thursday evening, witnesses said. They said the injured were rushed to hospital where the condition of one was stated to be critical.
An official spokesperson here claimed the consumer affairs and public distribution department distributed baby food among the needy at wholesale rates in different localities of Srinagar city, including Kursu Raj Bagh, Sonwar, Shivpora, Batwara, Indira Nagar, Nowpora, Saida Kadal, Hawal, Idgah and Soura.
Residents of various Srinagar areas, including Nawab Bazaar, Safa Kadal, Zaina Kadal and Zaldagar, alleged that power and drinking water supply to these places was snapped by the police and CRPF twice in the past three days “to give us collective punishment for staging protests.” Tariq Ahmed Dar, a resident of Rainawari, alleged that CRPF men, while leaving the locality at about 9.30 pm Wednesday after the day’s duty, smashed the windowpanes of his house “presumably because a light bulb in one of our roadside houses was on”.
Mediapersons also continued to face the rage of the police and CRPF although the authorities have issued them fresh pink curfew passes and, as claimed by Mr Tripathi, instructions have been issued to jawans not to bother them. Majid Hyderi, an editor with the local newspaper Greater Kashmir, alleged that he was roughed up by CRPF jawans outside the residence of Syed Ali Shah Geelani where he was heading to cover the separatist leaders’ press conference. “CRPF men stopped me from relocating to his house and snatched my mobile phone and curfew pass and even threatened to shoot me,” he claimed. Sanam Ajaz, assistant managing director of a private TV network, said he, too, was beaten up by the CRPF at Bemina here and had to get two stitches to his head.