[Reader-list] crackdown backfires in Shopian Kashmir

[Inder Salim]

http://www.kashmirobserver.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5869:crackdown-backfires-in-shopian-curfew-in-sgr-varmul&catid=15:top-news&Itemid=2

Srinagar, Oct 03, KONS:  Two persons were seriously injured in firing
on protestors during an army crackdown in a Shopian village on Sunday
amid a curfew clamped by the government in Srinagar and several towns
to foil the Hurriyat (G)’s call for a march to Baramulla.

An army crackdown in the Nagbal, Imam Sahib area of Shopian backfired
badly this morning, with troopers having to open fire in a futile bid
to quell snowballing protests.

The firing by the army left two persons, identified as 19-year-old
Umar Ahmad Dar and 18-year-old Saleema, seriously injured, triggered
off a fresh wave of violent protests that spilled over into the centre
of the town.

Protests against the army were reported to have erupted when troopers
cordoned off the area in the morning, asking locals to assemble in the
open.

The protests became stronger when the soldiers caught hold of a
student, Tauseef Ahmad, and gave him a severe beating.

Unable to control the intensifying demonstration, the soldiers opened
fire, leading to the casualties, who have been referred to Srinagar
for treatment.

The police said that the army had moved into the village on receiving
reports of militant presence, and had come under a stone-pelting
attack from some slogan-shouting youth when it began its search
operation.

It said that the army had opened fire to control the situation, and
the two persons injured in the incident were out of danger in
hospital.

The protests over the firing spilled over with a large number of local
taking to the streets, and  groups of enraged youth attacking the
deputy commissioner’s office with stones.

Clashes between the protestors and the forces were on till late in the
afternoon.

Meanwhile, a strict curfew had been imposed in the Baramulla and
Sopore towns in view of the Hurriyat (G) call, and authorities had
made late night announcements informing residents of the restrictions.

Large contingents of the police and the paramilitary forces had been
deployed in the towns overnight, and trouble-prone areas sealed off.

But clashes broke out near the Dewan Bagh area of Baramulla after
groups of youth emerged in the streets pelting stones on the forces
who retaliated with cane charges.

Curfew and shutdown paralysed life in Bandipur and Budgam towns also.

No curfew had been imposed in the south Kashmir towns of Islamabad,
Pulwama,Bijbehara, Kulgam, Pampore, Achabal and other areas, but life
the region  observed a complete shutdown on the call of the Hurriyat
(G).