Sopore, the bastion of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has recorded nearly 500 incidents of stone pelting according to official data from the State Home Ministry. This is the highest during the 2016 Kashmir unrest that was triggered by the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani.
Seventy-six persons, besides two police personnel, were killed during the five month-long unrest in which 463 persons were arrested under Public Safety Act (PSA) for their alleged involvement in incidents of violence and stone pelting.
Of the total 2,690 incidents of stone pelting, North Kashmir accounts for the highest with 1,248 incidents, followed by 875 in South Kashmir and 567 in Central Kashmir, according to official data of the state Home Ministry.
Sopore, which is part of Baramulla district, has recorded the highest number of 492 incidents. In Baramulla district, 810 incidents were reported during the unrest, it said.
Baramulla is followed by Srinagar and Kupwara districts with 339 incidents in each of these districts, it said, adding 271 such incidents took place in Anantnag district, followed by 264 in Pulwama district, 173 in Shopian district, 167 in Kulgam district, 163 in Budgam district, 109 in Bandipora district and 65 in Ganderbal district.
Among the total incidents of weapon snatching and looting by militants and mobs during the unrest, Kulgam tops the list with six incidents, followed by Pulwama with three, and two incidents each from the three districts of Anantnag, Shopian and Budgam. One such incident was reported from Srinagar district, the data said.
Thirteen such incidents took place in South Kashmir besides three in Central Kashmir districts and no incident was reported from North Kashmir districts.
As per the figures of the Home Ministry, as many as 66 weapons, including 17 AK rifles, and over 7,000 rounds of ammunition were looted by militants and mobs that attacked police stations and cops after Wani’s killing.
He was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Kokernag belt of South Kashmir on July 8.
