J&K protesters clash with cops amid strike
SRINAGAR: Protesters clashed with security forces in Srinagar’s Nowgam area on Wednesday after separatists called for a strike following outrage over the killing of two civilians in army firing a day earlier.
Shops and businesses remained closed and public transport was off the roads in most parts of the Valley, though private vehicles could be seen plying on some routes of the city.
“There will be curfew in areas falling under Khanyar, Nowhatta , Mahraj Gunj , Rainawari, Safakadal and Nowgam police stations,” said Amit Kumar, Srinagar’s senior superintendent of police.
Groups of young men started pelting police personnel with stones in Nowgam following which government forces fired teargas at the protesters.
The army said on Wednesday it regretted the killings, ordered an investigation and removed the entire unit from field duty pending the inquiry.
The Budgam deputy commissioner said in his initial probe report that five people may have been in the car when it was fired upon. The vehicle was stopped by the army and skidded off the road, hitting a pole on the roadside, he said.
“In the meantime, one detachment of the naka party fired upon the vehicle resulting in deaths,” said the report, which contradicts the army’s version that the car failed to stop at two checkpoints before being fired upon. MHA SEEKS REPORT ON KILLING OF THE YOUTHS NEW DELHI: Union home ministry has sought a report from Jammu and Kashmir government on the killing of two youth allegedly by army personnel in Budgam.
The ministry has asked the state government to provide factual details of the incident and what action it has taken.
Curfew-like restrictions continued in five police station areas in Srinagar as a precautionary measure even as normal life across Kashmir was affected on Wednesday.