JOIN USAt least 30 people, including 10 policemen, were injured during day-long protests throughout Kashmir on Wednesday, defying curfew in several parts of the valley.
Reports said that people in Nowhata and its adjoining areas in old city here defied curfew and fought pitched battles with police and para-military Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. Similar reports were received from other areas of the valley as well.
Residents of Nowhata alleged that police and CRPF men barged into houses and ransacked them.
Sources said the injured policemen included station house officers of Sadder, Zadibal and Habakadal police stations in Srinagar.
A police spokesperson claimed that the situation remained by and large peaceful across the valley. “However, there were reports of stone pelting from some areas of Srinagar and elsewhere,” he said.
“Police exercised maximum restraint and chased the protesters away. A woman and eight policemen were injured in these incidents,” he added.
Indefinite curfew was clamped on Tuesday night in 10 police station areas of Srinagar and other areas of Kashmir as a precautionary measure with the authorities apprehending law and order problem following the killing of a youth in alleged firing by the Army in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
The Army claimed that its personnel were surrounded by a mob of around 200 people in Baramulla on Tuesday and the situation had turned life-threatening for the soldiers.
It also claimed that the soldiers had fired warning shots in the air and could not have caused death.
The Army, while ordering an internal inquiry, also sought a detailed probe by police into the incident to reveal the truth.