As fresh violence broke out in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, the police claimed to have arrested “four members of a militant group” behind the unrest in Sopore, a town in north Kashmir.
A police officer said four persons, including two active members of a militant organisation, “received money from Pakistan for fuelling and sustaining the unrest in Sopore”. Gowhar Ahmed Bhat and Hilal Ahmed Gojri are believed to be members of the Pakistan-based Tehreek-i-Jehad-i-Islami.
“They had visited Pakistan during the unrest. During interrogation, they revealed the names of two more persons: Showkat Ali Gazi and Zahoor Ahmed Shagoo. Documents were recovered from them,” the police officer said. They said each of them received Rs. 50,000 from Pakistan, which promised them more funds for fuelling the unrest.
Meanwhile, masked men attacked vehicles and markets in Pulwama and Srinagar to enforce the shutdown called by the separatists.
On Hari Singh High Street in Srinagar, miscreants stoned vehicles and tried to ransack shops, the police said.
The police said adequate forces had been deployed at vulnerable points in Srinagar. In fresh Pakistani shelling and firing, a BSF officer and a civilian were injured near the International Border in Jammu district.
A police officer said they were hit by splinters. The R.S Pora sector witnessed fresh ceasefire violation on Tuesday night. “The BSF effectively retaliated,” an official spokesman said.
PTI adds
Pakistan summons Indian envoy for the second day
Pakistan on Wednesday summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner and lodged a strong protest against the alleged “unprovoked firing” by Indian forces along the working boundary and the Line of Control (LoC).
It was the second day in succession that Indian envoy J.P. Singh was summoned by the Foreign Office over the violation of ceasefire.
The protest was lodged against the violation of the ceasefire agreement in the Chaprar and Harpal sectors along the working boundary and in the Bhimber sector along the LoC on October 25-26, the Foreign Office said. Pakistan said two civilians were killed and nine others injured in the firing.
