Valley shuts down to protest civilian killings
Amid simmering anger fuelled by the killing of three local youth in security forces’ firing a day ago, a complete shutdown was observed in most parts of Kashmir valley on Wednesday.
Thousands of mourners attended multiple funerals of the slain youth in the central district of Budgam and took a pledge to “fight till the last man” for the cause of “freedom”.
Separately, a large crowd turned up at the funeral of Lashkar-eTaiba commander Tauseef Ahmed Wagay in Yaripora village of southern Kulgam district. The chants of “we want freedom” and “we’re with you, holy fighters” filled the air, said witnesses. Soon after the funeral, massive clashes erupted between protesters and the security forces, reports said.
Wagay was killed in a 10-hour-long gunbattle with security forces after he was trapped inside a house at Durbug in Budgam’s Chadoora area during a cordon-andsearch operation on Monday night.
CRPF deputy inspector general Sanjay Kumar said that obstruction by locals made their operation against the holed-up militant even more difficult as they were forced to divert their attention from him. He said 43 CRPF personnel and 20 from Kashmir police were injured in stonepelting.
The mainstream opposition parties and separatists, however, questioned his claim and accused the security forces of using disproportionate force against “unarmed protesters”.
On Wednesday, shops and other businesses and educational institutions remained closed across the Valley while traffic was off the roads.
Kashmir University, Islamic University of Science and Technology and Central University of Kashmir had postponed all examinations scheduled on Wednesday.