A nearly complete shutdown to mourn and protest the January 2 killing of a Class 12 student in CISF firing during a protest against erratic power supply outside an NHPC office at Boniyar near the Line of Control paralysed normal life across the Kashmir Valley on Friday.
Meanwhile, the NHPC has regretted the firing incident in which two protesters were injured terming it “most unfortunate” and said the corporation was considering to release up to `1 million as ex-gratia relief to the parents of slain youth Altaf Ahmed Sood, who live in abject poverty, apart from `100,000 already announced by the state government.
The local police investigating the incident has said that the CISF men fired as many as ninety bullets in response to “a few stones” hurled by the protesting crowd at the entrance to the NHPC office. However, the CISF has justified the firing saying the standards of operation were strictly followed. The shutdown called by the Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA), a federation of various business organisations, was also to resent the government’s recent decision to curtail electricity supply by more than half to cope with a supply shortfall. “Enough is enough. Not only is the government doing all within its reach to impair Kashmir’s economy, those who raise their voice against injustice are showered with bullets. Such behaviour will not be tolerated anymore and the tremendous response our call for protest strike has evoked should serve as an eye-opener,” said KEA chairman Muhammad Yasin Khan.
The police arrested pro-independence JKLF leader Muhammad Yasin Malik and about a dozen of his supporters to thwart a protest rally planned by it at Srinagar’s historic central square Lal Chowk.