J&K shuts down over Sopore killings
SRINAGAR: Shops and schools shut down in parts of Indianadministered-Kashmir on Wednesday to protest against a string of apparently targeted killings that has triggered fear in the restive region.
Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops in riot gear patrolled Kashmir’s mostly deserted main city of Srinagar after separatist groups called a strike over the killings which they have blamed on undercover security forces.
Unidentified gunmen have killed four separatist activists including two former rebels in the last week in the Sopore area of northern Kashmir.
“The effect of the strike is widespread across towns in the Kashmir valley and other Muslim majority areas of the state also,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.
The killings began on June 9 when gunmen shot and killed a member of a group led by top separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.
That was followed by the killing of three more activists — one a sympathiser of the same group and two former rebels — a few days later. Police said initial investigations indicated rebel group Hizbul Mujahideen was behind the attacks and announced a reward of two million rupees for information.
“Many people whose political leanings are known are fleeing Sopore,” a former rebel from the area, who wished not to be named, said. Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Syed called a meeting of top generals and top security officials for Wednesday, after earlier ordering a probe into who was behind the deaths.