Body count up in Kashmir clashes, tempers rise too
Srinagar: Two persons were killed on Monday when security forces allegedly opened fire at two places in Jammu and Kashmir to quell protestors.
While the first person was killed when CRPF personnel fired at a mob pelting stones on its battalion headquarters in Sopore in North Kashmir, the other death took place after security forces opened fire at a protesting mob in Baramulla. The Sopore incident took place on Monday when locals protesting the death of a youth, Bilal Ahmed Wani, turned violent outside the 92 Battalion headquarter of CRPF in Sopore, 55 kms from Srinagar, official sources said.
After several rounds of tear gas, the paramilitary forces opened fire in which one person was killed, they said.
Security forces had on Monday morning fired warning shots and lobbed tear gas shells at protestors carrying the body of a youth, who was killed in firing allegedly by CRPF personnel, defied curfew and staged a march in the town.
Raising anti-government and pro-freedom slogans, protestors carrying the body of Wani tried to march towards Srinagar.
When the protestors reached the local police station, security forces fired in the air and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse them, the sources said.
The situation in the town is tense and police and paramilitary forces are patrolling the streets to maintain law and order, the sources said.
In another development, heavily-armed terrorists indiscriminately fired at a police station in curfew-boundSopore.
No loss of life was reported in the attack on the police station, 55 kms from here, police said. Police retaliated following which the terrorists fled, they said.
In Srinagar, authorities placed under house arrest several Hurriyat leaders including moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq ahead of their proposed march to Sopore to express solidarity with the families of the youth killed in firing.
Besides the Mirwaiz, those placed under house arrest included JKLF chairman Yasin Malik and top executive members of the amalgam Bilal Gani Lone, Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, Aga Syed Hassan Alsafvi Almosvi and advisor to the chairman Shahidul Islam, the sources said.
Referring to Sunday's incident in the town, CRPF spokesman Manas Ranjan said, "If any incident has occurred in which CRPF has taken action that is not as per the law, then the force will have to answer for it. CRPF, in the past, has taken action against its personnel for wrongdoings".
He said allegations against the force could not be levelled till the report of the inquiry comes out.
Wani was killed on Sunday after CRPF personnel fired rubber bullets on a stone-pelting mob that had defied curfew in the town.
On June 25, two youths were killed and three others injured allegedly in firing by CRPF after the security personnel were attacked by protesters following an encounter in which two militants were gunned down.
The incident had sparked protests across the Valley with both factions of Hurriyat calling for a shutdown.
Indefinite curfew was clamped in Sopore after the killings. The government had on Saturday ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had on Sunday night spoken with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and voiced his strong concern over civilians becoming victims of action by paramilitary forces.
State Law Minister Ali Muhammad Sagar had described as "totally unwarranted" firing by CRPF personnel on the protestors in Sopore, saying such action was adding fuel to the fire.
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