At least 15 students were injured in fresh clashes in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday as demonstrations against the police action against the students of Government Degree College, Pulwama, on April 15 entered its third week.
Students of Government Degree College, Handwara, hit the streets in the forenoon and hurled stones at the security forces, resulting in clashes.
Medical Superintendent, District Hospital, Handwara, Dr. Aijaz said around 50 students, including three girls, were admitted in the hospital for treatment and around 15 had sustained injuries. Most of the students had fainted from suffocation caused by tear-smoke shells and were discharged, said an official.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Handwara, Ghulam Jeelani Wani accused the students of “resorting to heavy stone pelting”.
Hit by pellets
Security forces allegedly fired from the pellet guns and injured a 14-year-old boy in south Kashmir’s Qazigund area after clashes between local youths and CRPF there.
Reports suggest locals of Churrat village hurled stones on a CRPF cavalcade. The CRPF allegedly responded with pellets, injuring Zeshan Farooq Shah. “Pellets hit the boy in the back and the left arm,” said a doctor. The incident sparked more stone pelting in the area.
Students also held protests in Pulwama district against alleged detention of students in the district. Clashes erupted in Pulwama when the students of Government Higher Secondary School, Newa, staged a protest rally. The security forces used smoke shells to disperse the students.
Mehbooba’s plea
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can resolve Kashmir issue “as he has the support of the whole country.”
“If anyone can solve Kashmir issue it’s PM Modi. He has a huge mandate of the people of the country. So whatever decision he will take the nation will support him,” Ms. Mehbooba said in Jammu.
She said earlier Prime Ministers wanted to go to Pakistan but it was Mr. Modi who went to Lahore. “This is a sign of his strength,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ms. Mufti called for tough action against “forces trying to disrupt communal harmony in the Jammu region”.
