Govt pursues
TURMOIL
SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Kashmir remained locked down amid reports of continuing protests and violence for a third day on Monday, as the government began efforts to forge a political consensus in Delhi to deal with the unrest sparked by the killing of a young militant commander.
A top home ministry official said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways to end the protests which erupted after troops shot dead last week Burhan Wani, the 22-year-old commander of Kashmir’s largest militant group Hizbul Mujahideen. At least 24 people have been killed in the violence.
Across Kashmir, roads remained empty and shops shuttered on Monday but confrontations continued despite a roundthe-clock curfew in most of the Valley. By noon, crowds ignored the clampdown to gather in parts of Srinagar and towns south of it but troops repelled them.
A mob in southern Kashmir’s Kulgam district took a policeman hostage, demanding the release of a youth arrested for stone-pelting. “A head constable was abducted by a mob at Behibagh and held hostage,” a spokesman said.
Security forces remained
Be watchful of those who spread radical ideologies. And be equally condemning of those who give shelter to terrorists and use them as political instruments.
PM NARENDRA MODI, while addressing students in Kenya
the prime target as militants hurled a grenade at a police station in Srinagar late on Monday, wounding at least 13 CRPF personnel. Dozens of protesters pelted stones at an
Indian Air Force base outside Srinagar before paramilitary police chased them away.
The annual Amarnath Yatra, which was suspended after Wani’s death, resumed on Monday from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu. Pilgrims moved in convoys under CRPF protection.
“The pilgrimage to the cave shrine restarted. About 1,500 pilgrims in 34 vehicles have left the base camp,” said Sunil Gupta, the senior superintendent of police in Jammu.
Around 20,000 pilgrims were left stranded in Jammu and Kashmir’s winter capital following the volatile situation in the Valley.
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