After a brief respite from trying living conditions created by weeks of official curfews and other restrictions and separatist-sponsored strikes witnessed on Saturday, the situation on the ground was almost “back to square one” for the Kashmir Valley’s nearly five million population on Sunday.
While a strike called by Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference alliance faction as part of its latest weeklong calendar of protests under the “Quit Jammu and Kashmir” slogan crippled life elsewhere, curfew-like restrictions were imposed on major parts of summer capital Srinagar, north-western town of Baramulla and Sopore and in two localities of Anantnag in the south.
Baramulla, 58-km from Srinagar, erupted again on Saturday evening after a Class VII student, Farhan Rafiq Burhoo, downed in the Jhelum river while the police was reportedly chasing stone-throwing protesters in the town’s Azad Gunj locality. Residents alleged that the members of local police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group aboard a private truck attacked the boy and then pushed him in river Jhelum but officials strongly denied the charge saying that the cause of the drowning is being ascertained and that the body has yet to be fished out from the river.
It added that a 600-800 strong mob attacked the police and the CRPF with rocks and petrol bombs and also used lathies and axes causing injuries to 25 personnel, including an officer. “The police party faced the situation with utmost restraint using only baton and tear smoke,” a statement issued here said adding that later on, it was learnt that one boy, namely Farhan Rafiq Buhroo, had drowned in river Jehlum. “The cause of drowning is yet to be ascertained and the body has not been recovered r,” it added.
A brief calm had returned to the Kashmir Valley, the scene of widespread protests and mob violence following the death of 15 youth in police firings and beating, on Saturday as the separatists allowed people to resume normal life for a few hours but simultaneously issued a fresh calendar of protests and strike for one week.