Four days after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter in South Kashmir on Friday, the Valley continued to seethe with civilian protests and gunfire from security forces. According to some reports, the death toll climbed to 32 on Monday, with 1,365 injured at last count.

The unrest sparked a diplomatic spat as Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed shock at Wani’s killing and the “excessive force” used by Indian security personnel. The political leadership, both at the Centre and the state, remained closeted in meetings through most of Monday. Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to opposition parties to coordinate a response to the situation. In the evening, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti appealed for calm and reportedly told her ministers to go to troubled areas to restore peace.

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Among the indications of how life has been affected in the Valley was to be found on the classified advertising pages of Greater Kashmir. This is wedding season in the Valley. But all the announcements carried the same message: invitation cancelled.

Front pages across the Valley had harrowing accounts of death, injury and hospitals struggling to treat the tide of victims. A number of papers said the death toll had touched 30 and then quoted the inspector general of police, who had claimed that “only 22” had been killed in firing by forces. They also spoke of angry crowds attacking police stations, police posts and an air force base in Pulwama. As for the political back and forth between parties and governments, it was consigned to the bottom half or the peripheries of the front page spread.

Greater Kashmir quoted officials who said most fatalities had occurred on the first day. The paper also carried accounts by the injured, who claimed security forces “went berserk” in Anantnag. It also reported a grenade attack on the Central Reserve Police Force in Srinagar’s Nowhatta area, which injured at least 20 CRPF men and 10 civilians.

Rising Kashmir carried a list of the deceased, as did the Kashmir Observer. The latter also reported that “scores of youth” had been blinded by pellet guns in the past few days. It went into hospital wards in Srinagar where patients with pellet gun injuries were admitted. Most had their faces bandaged and would probably never recover their eyesight.

The Kashmir Monitor, however, reported that security forces were showing “restraint” for the first time since clashes broke out. It also quoted the Kashmir divisional commissioner, who dismissed rumours that hospitals were grappling with shortage of medicines.

Meanwhile, Rising Kashmir carried a strong editorial condemning civilian killings and Kashmir Times carried an opinion piece by M Ashraf, former director general of tourism, asking Indian and Kashmiri authorities to recognise state oppression that gave rise to a Burhan Wani and to stem the fires of unrest before it was too late.