Security forces foil separatists' referendum march

The Jammu and Kashmir government foiled a ‘referendum march’ called by separatists here by imposing curfew in Srinagar and other major towns of the Valley.

While, dozens of people including security personnel were injured in fresh protests on Saturday.

Authorities had sealed Lal Chowk to prevent the march called by separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik. All the entry and exit points of the commercial hub were sealed by rolls of concertina wires and barricades.

The separatists also called for a similar march towards Lal Chowk on August 14.An injured youth, identified as Suhail Ahmad, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on Friday night, taking the death toll to 58 since violence gripped the Valley in the aftermath of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.

Ahmad had been hit by a bullet on August 2, after a personal security officer of a senior state official opened fire on demonstrators in Lethpora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Reports said clashes erupted in Lethpora after the body of Ahmad reached home. Witnesses said that the youths placed the body of Ahmad on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway and blocked it.

According to doctors, another injured youth from north Kashmir’s Tangmarg, who was admitted at the tertiary care SKIMS hospital on Friday evening, continues to be in a critical condition.

Meanwhile, strike and curfew continued in Kashmir on the 36th consecutive day with dozens of protesters and security personnel injured in fresh violence across the Valley.

A police spokesperson said 12 personnel, including an officer, were injured in clashes that erupted in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

He said, barring clashes at some places, situation was by and large peaceful on Saturday. “About half a dozen incidents of stone-pelting were reported from different parts of the Valley,” he said.