Students clash with cops in Handwara, Pulwama
SRINAGAR Hundreds of college and school students took to streets in Kashmir’s Handwara and Pulwama towns on Saturday and clashed with police.
A minor boy was injured in south Kashmir after security forces allegedly fired pellets on a group of youth allegedly throwing stones. Residents said 15-year-old Zeeshan Shah was hit by multiple pellets fired by CRPF jawans in Churat village of Devsar in Kulgam as their vehicle was allegedly targeted by a group of stonepelters. It was not clear whether Shah was part of the group or was a bystander.
“Yes a boy from Churat has come to the hospital. He has pellets in his left arm,” said Dr Majeed Mehrab, medical superintendent of Anantnag Hospital.
CRPF spokesman Rajesh Yadav said that he was ascertaining what happened
Meanwhile, police and eyewitnesses said students of Degree College Handwara in north Kashmir boycotted classes and protested against the police over the alleged high-handedness of security forces in Pulwama Degree College on April 15.
Students, including girls, raised slogans, marched on the roads and clashed with police.
“Some students threw stones on security forces who in turn retaliated with tear gas shells,” said a resident of Handwara.
Following the clashes, shopkeepers downed their shutters.
Superintendent of police, Handwara, Ghulam Jeelani said his men faced heavy stone-pelting. He added that when they were pacifying college students, a group of schoolchildren from the nearby higher secondary school attacked the town’s police station with stones.
“These are children. We can’t use harsh force,” he said.
Health officials said over 40 students visited the sub-district hospital with breathing problems due to tear gas shells.
Deputy medical superintendent of the said hospital, Dr Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, said 10-12 students had received minor injuries due to stones and tipping over. “One girl had a head injury. She said that a tear gas shell hit her. She got some stitches,” Bhat said.
The SP, on the other hand, said that his men also were wounded after being pelted with stones. “Around 25 policemen were injured in the clashes. Some of them were hit by stones on their hands and legs, and one had a chin injury,” he said.
PROTESTS IN PULWAMA Meanwhile, students also protested in south Kashmir’s Pulwama. Residents said students of government higher secondary school in Newa area of Pulwama district took to streets and later clashed with the police.
The students pelted stones at security forces, who resorted to baton charge and tear gas shelling.
“The students were chased away,” said an official manning police control room in Pulwama.
Kashmir has been witnessing sporadic clashes since April 17 when thousands of college and school students, across the Kashmir valley, came out protesting over an incident of alleged police high-handedness in Degree College Pulwama, two days earlier.