Separatists in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday called for a shutdown in the Kashmir Valley, a day after security forces killed five civilian protestors in South Kashmir. People in Shopian’s Badigam area started throwing stones at the soldiers after they came to know that the security personnel were engaged in a gun battle with five suspected militants, Greater Kashmir reported.
Internet services remained suspended in the region, the local daily reported.
One of the militants killed was identified as Dr Muhammad Rafi of Ganderbal, who went missing from Kashmir University only two days ago. The others killed were identified as Adil Malik of Malikgund in Shopian, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Abbas Sheikh’s nephew Tauseef Sheikh, and former government employee Bilal Moulvi.
Media reports, however, differed on the number of injury cases from the protest areas. The Kulgam district hospital received two bullet and four pellet injury cases, the daily reported.
At least 11 youngsters are undergoing treatment in a Srinagar hospital for bullet injuries. “Two of them are critical,” an unidentified doctor told Greater Kashmir. There are 20 others with pellet injuries in their eyes and other parts of the body.
The protests soon spread to other parts of Shopian, Pulwama, and nearby areas. The police detained Hurriyat (M) chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday after he violated his house arrest and attempted to march towards the civil secretariat in Srinagar in protest against the civilian killings, Greater Kashmir reported. The daily said police personnel also prevented the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation from protesting against the deaths.
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