Life remained hit for the 13th day in the Kashmir Valley, as the authorities continued to impose curfew on Thursday, following the extension of the protest shutdown by separatists, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, on Wednesday till Monday.
“To prevent escalation of violence, it has been decided to impose curfew in most of the parts of the Valley today [Thursday] as well,” a senior police official said.
The state government, however, decided to open schools in Ganderbal, Badgam, Bandipora and Baramulla districts.
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“To reach places of their duties, identity cards of teachers/government employees shall be treated as curfew passes,” an official said.
After remaining suspended for five days, all regional and English language newspapers in the Valley resumed publication on Thursday.
The editors decided to resume publication following a meeting with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti where she regretted the decision to have suspended newspaper publication by the authorities.
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Officials said there was no major clash anywhere in the Valley between protesters and the security forces.
“No major incident of violence took place anywhere in the Valley on Wednesday. However, one person injured in clashes in Kupwara district last Saturday died in a Srinagar hospital yesterday [Wednesday],” a police officer said.
Meanwhile, the National Conference has decided to boycott the all-party meeting called by the Chief Minister to discuss measures to end the unrest.
Ram Madhav, BJP national general secretary and the party in charge of Kashmir affairs, has reached here to discuss the prevailing situation with the Chief Minister.
The violence started on July 9, a day after Hizb-u-Mujahideenl commander Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with security forces. Forty-five people, including 43 civilians and two local policemen, were killed in the clashes in the Valley.