Twelve people were injured after security forces opened fire at protestors in Walarhama area of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday, Kashmir Vision reported.
The local daily, citing sources, said that people began protesting and pelting stones at Army vehicles after they heard that a woman’s braid was chopped off. The injured people have been shifted to the district hospital in Anantnag. Authorities have shut down schools for the day, and blocked mobile internet services in south Kashmir to prevent rumours from spreading.
This protest comes in the wake of continuous chaos in the Valley related to “braid chopping” incidents. On Tuesday, violence broke out in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district after locals assaulted a soldier suspecting him to be involved in a braid chopping incident.
There have been over 100 reports of alleged braid chopping from Kashmir so far, police said, adding that none of the women have submitted their hair samples to the police. The state administration has been under pressure to solve the cases of braid chopping in the state, as separatists allege security forces were behind these incidents.
Earlier in October, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had offered Rs 6 lakh for information on the braid chopping incidents. The state police had formed special investigation teams in every district of the Valley to investigate the incidents.
The Valley reported its first braid chopping in September, a month after Jammu had reported several similar incidents. More than 190 reports have emerged from the Jammu division. Similar complaints were filed in other North Indian states in August.
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