Police officer, several others injured in clashes post Eid prayers in Kashmir

Several people, including policemen, were injured in clashes between stone pelting protesters and security forces in various parts of Kashmir post-Eid-ul-Fitr prayers on Monday as authorities placed separatist leaders under house arrest.

Reports said soon after Eid prayers, stone pelting youth carrying Pakistani flags and raising anti-India slogans, clashed with security forces in Anantnag town of South Kashmir in which five police men, including a Dy SP, were injured. Several protesters were also injured in the clashes.

Reports of similar clashes were also received from Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir in which several policemen and protesters were injured.

Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were injured in Srinagar's Old City area where youths threw stones at security forces after Eid prayers. In Sopore town of north Kashmir forces used tear smoke shells and pellet shotguns to disperse the protesters in which over a dozen demonstrators sustained injuries.

Police didn't allow moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar, who is also head priest of Kashmir to deliver traditional Eid sermon at Eidgah in old city by placing him under house arrest. Hardliner Syed Ali Geelani was also barred from offering Eid prayers while pro-independence JKLF chief Yasin Malik was arrested.

The separatist leaders later issued a statement to media in which they termed the NIA raids on the houses of 'pro-freedom' leaders and a few Kashmiri businessmen as "illegal" and maintained that these are new ploys being used by New Delhi to defame the 'freedom struggle' in Kashmir. “If such raids don't stop, there will be serious repercussions and the entire responsibility will lie with the State government and Delhi itself,” it read.

For security reasons, several ministers, senior civil and police officers offered prayers at the district police lines Masjid in Srinagar at 6.30 am. In the backdrop of a lynching of a senior police officer by a mob outside the Jama Masjid in Srinagar on Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir Police had advised its personnel and VIPs not to offer Eid prayers in public places.