Violence keeps Valley on edge

AFTERMATH Militant Sabzar Bhat’s killing led to spontaneous shutdown and stone pelting

On Monday morning, two days after the killing of militant Sabzar Bhat in south Kashmir, a curfew was imposed in areas under seven police stations, in what’s referred to as the ‘downtown’ area, in Srinagar.

The roads were completely deserted. A few young men huddled in front of stores to discuss the prevailing situation, while a child occasionally cycled by the barbed wires. CRPF jawans and policemen keep an eye out for anything out of line.

Soon after Bhat’s killing, there was a spontaneous shutdown and stone-pelting protests across the Valley. Scores were injured and at least 13 people, hit in the eye by pellets, were brought to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital. Anticipating trouble, the administration has imposed curfew and restrictions since Sunday and snapped mobile internet services and telephone services on prepaid mobile numbers.

For many, there is a lingering fear that the situation might become as bad as last year – a fivemonth-long unrest .

CRPF jawans on the streets keep their fingers crossed about the law and order situation in the coming days. “It depends on the local residents, what they want to do. Whether they want to continue with the shutdown, or continue normally,” said a jawan from Punjab, who has been posted in the Valley for the last five years. Another jawan, from Haryana, posted a few kilometers away, agreed.

“I hope the situation does not become like last year.” He too seemed agitated about the prescribed methods of retaliation on stone-pelters. “If only the stonepelters fired at us instead of stones. We could have retaliated with bullets without any qualms. But they don’t. And our instructions are very strict to follow maximum restraint.”

One civilian was killed in clashes during the encounter in which Bhat was killed. As uncertainty continues the question everyone asks is, “Has there been a fresh killing?”

A newspaper and magazine stall owner in Lal Chowk expressed concern over the normalisation of violence. He said, “There is shutdown, curfew and possibility of protests – and yet we say that ‘halaat is normal, sab theek hai’. Only if an civilian dies, we say, a casualty has occurred -and that situation will worsen.”