Two more youth succumbed to injures in hospitals, as violence, strike and curfew continued unabated in the Kashmir Valley for the 70th consecutive day on Friday.
Hospital officials said a 13-year-old teenager from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, who had sustained pellet injuries during clashes on September 5, succumbed at SMHS hospital here on Friday.
Rasik Ahmed Bhat (23), son of Muhammad Yousuf Bhat of Nowpora, Kulgam, was hit by a bullet in his head during clashes with security forces on September 5. The doctors declared him dead at 4 pm on Friday.
Another youth, identified as Rasiq Bhat, who was injured last week in clashes with security forces in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, succumbed at SKIMS hospital in Srinagar on Thursday evening, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest to 82.
In Dooru village of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, 10 people were injured during fresh clashes between protesters and security forces after Friday’s congregational prayers, reports said. Three among the injured have suffered pellet injuries.
Reports said at least a dozen protesters, including women, were injured at Ompura in central Kashmir’s Budgam district when forces foiled a protest rally in the area. Scores of protesters were also injured during clashes in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
A police official said curfew was re-imposed in the old city areas of Srinagar and major towns of the Valley to thwart the protests after Friday prayers.
Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik in their weekly “protest calendar” asked the people to continue strike till September 22, with no relaxation in evenings. The new “protest calendar” is harsher than the ones they had been issuing since July 9 after the violence erupted in Kashmir a day after the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani.
Daily protests
The separatists have asked the people to hold daily protests and rallies during the next seven days and not open markets even during the evenings.
The Internet services of all telecom networks and also mobile communications, except of the state-run BSNL, remained suspended for the fifth day in a row throughout Kashmir. The services had been shut a day ahead of Bakrid as a “precautionary measure” by the state government.
Meanwhile, curfew and deployment of Army continued in the border district of Rajouri in Jammu on the second consecutive day as violence erupted after Muslims were allegedly attacked for slaughtering a camel on Eid day. However, no fresh incident of violence was reported since Thursday night.
Activist barred from travelling to Geneva
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday detained a prominent human rights activist after he was barred from boarding a flight to attend UN Human Rights Council summit in Geneva, DHNS reports. The 39-year-old Khurram Parvez, who is the coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, a human rights organisation, was detained by the police at his Srinagar residence and prevented from travelling to Geneva. However, his two colleagues, including lawyer Parvez Imroz, were permitted to travel. Zahir-ud-Din, a fellow activist and journalist, said a magistrate ordered administrative detention for at least five days over charges of breaching the peace. The Amnesty International India in a statement demanded that Parvez must be immediately released, “unless he is charged with recognisable criminal offences.”