Violence continues, CM faces wrath

Valley unrest: Chidambarams statement in Parliament draws severe criticism

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had to face a hostile mob during his visit to Sher-e-Kashmir institute of medical sciences in Srinagar as people raised slogans against him and the government. Reports said the police opened fire on protesters, killing Shabir Ahmad at Pulwama. Two others were injured. The protesters were marching from Zadora to Pulwama.

“We were marching peacefully and the police and the security forces opened fire. It was unprovoked,” said Touqeer Ahmad, a protester. But the police said they had to use force as the protesters defied curfew and turned violent.

Forty-six-year-old Ghulam Nabi Badri, who was injured in CRPF firing at Habakadal in Srinagar on Wednesday, died on Thursday in a hospital.

A large number of people gathered for Badri’s funeral procession and the police fired in the air, burst smoke shells and resorted to cane charge to disperse the mob. People from Habbakadal, Maisuma and adjoining areas defied curfew restrictions and joined the procession.

The protesters pelted stones at the policemen. Later, the police allowed a few persons to attend the funeral and the rest staged a sit-in protest.

Mehbooba Mufti, president of the People’s Democratic Party, welcomed the intervention of All Party Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to end the violence. “Rather than trying to solve the Kashmir issue through the barrel of a gun, the Central government must take some political initiatives and provide the required political space to all sections of people,” she said.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement on Kashmir in Parliament has come under severe criticism in Kashmir. “Chidambaram must realise that rushing more troops to Kashmir and crushing the voice of Kashmiris will not solve the issue,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference. He asked the home minister to take political initiatives and confidence building measures at the earliest.