In Pattan town, along the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, 13-year-old Rafiq Ahmed Butt was killed and scores others injured in clashes between policemen and violent crowds. Witnesses said an unruly mob barged into the local police station and torched one of the buildings as well as some stationary police vehicles.
Nine policemen had a close shave in this incident.
Friday’s shooting incidents in the Kashmir Valley occurred before or immediately after Union home minister P. Chidambaram acknowledged in New Delhi that the situation in Kashmir is “not yet” normal. He, however, reiterated the government’s commitment to hold a quiet dialogue with all shades of opinion in the state.
Witnesses said that after offering Friday congregational prayers at local mosques, several thousand residents, obeying the Hurriyat Conference call, took out a procession through the deserted streets and bazaars of Amar Garh in Sopore. While heading towards the railway station, they were met by a CRPF contingent aboard three vehicles.
Police sources said the CRPF men were being headed by the commanding officer of its 177 Battalion (Delta Company), Mr O.P. Jain, and were returning to camp from Amar Garh station.
Some youth within the procession attacked the column with stones, at which the CRPF men opened fire. Soon after the shooting incident, in which two people were killed, protests were held at several other places in Sopore and its neighbourhood.
Earlier, clashes between mobs and policemen were also reported from various places in the districts of Baramulla, Budgam, Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian, besides Srinagar. The protests were held despite curfews and other security restrictions being enforced by hundreds of policemen and paramilitary personnel in these areas.
At Channapora in Srinagar, four persons were injured in CRPF firing. The condition of one of them, identified as Muhammad Iqbal Khan, is stated to be critical.
In neighbouring Kreri area, huge crowds protesting over the involuntary disappearance of a local youth, Syed Farhat Bashir Bukhari, attacked an SOG camp and damaged several police vehicles.