For the third consecutive day on Thursday, life in the Kashmir Valley remained disrupted owing to growing street protests, fuelled by the killing of four civilians in security forces’ firing in the last two days.
There was a complete shutdown in north and south Kashmir as fresh tear-gas shelling on Wednesday left Jehangeer Wani, a sand digger of Kupwara’s Drugmulla area, dead.
The police decided to stop the mobile Internet service in the valley, saying “anti-national elements were out to disrupt the law and order situation.”
The twin towns of Kupwara and Handwara again remained under curfew, while concertina wires and iron barricades were erected across the old city in Srinagar to stop the movement of people and vehicles.
Despite stringent security measures, protesters throwing stones emerged in Habba Kadal and Zainakote areas near Srinagar. Clashes also erupted in Magam and Handwara.
No delegation of the separatist Hurriyat and Opposition National Conference was allowed to enter Handwara.
“The PDP is indulging in petty politics by not allowing us to visit,” said NC general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar.
Separatists criticise curbs
With normal life in the Kashmir valley disrupted by growing protests for the third consecutive day on Thursday, the twin towns of Kupwara and Handwara again remained under curfew. No delegation of the separatist Hurriyat and opposition National Conference was allowed to enter Handwara.
Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq termed this action of the government “aggressive and undemocratic.”
