Kashmir shuts against custodial death of school teacher

Amid shutdown and restrictions, a tense situation prevailed in Kashmir on Wednesday, a day after a private school teacher arrested over alleged militant links, died in police custody in Srinagar.

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of separatists headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, had called for a shutdown in Kashmir on Wednesday against the incident.

Shops and other commercial establishments, schools and colleges remained closed across Kashmir valley including commercial hub of Lal Chowk in Srinagar while attendance of employees in government offices was reported to be very thin. Though public transport was off the roads, private cars, auto rickshaws and cabs plied normally in Srinagar.

A police official said that security forces in adequate numbers have been deployed in sensitive areas of the city and south Kashmir to thwart any protests in view of shutdown call issued by the JRL. Mobile Internet services were also snapped in southern Kashmir and the speed throttled to 2G in Srinagar and Budgam districts in central Kashmir.

The State administration has ordered a magisterial probe into the killing of28-year-old Rizwan Pandit, who died in police custody on the intervening night of March 18 and 19, while police have ordered a separate inquiry into the matter.

The custodial death has triggered a fresh wave of anger across Kashmir and evoked widespread condemnation from the mainstream and separatist circles in the Valley.

Rizwan, according to his brother Zulqarnain, was a principal at a private school in Awantipora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and was booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) six months ago. His PSA was, however, quashed by a court.

Following the fresh killing, the Valley has been on edge again. According to Shakeel Qalandar, a noted industrialist, in the past three-decades, Kashmir has suffered losses up to Rs 2,20,000 crore due to business interruptions caused by strikes and curfews. Qalander said the situation in Kashmir has now reached a point where “our entrepreneurs have started migrating to other parts of the world.