Another youth killed in Anantnag; death toll in current unrest reaches 75

Ehsan Fazili, Samaan Lateef and Suhail A Shah

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 6

A 20-year-old youth was killed on Tuesday during clashes with security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, taking the death toll to 75.

Naseer Ahmad, son of Ghulam Hassan Mir of Seer-Hamdan village of Anantnag district, 70 km south from here, was hit by pellets in his heart when security forces resorted to pellet-firing on protesters.

Hundreds of people from Seer-Hamdan had come out in the morning to protest against the night raids by police to arrest the youth involved in protests and stone-pelting incidents.

They pelted the police and security forces personnel with stones. The security forces retaliated with pellet-firing, resulting in on-spot death of a youth and injuries to over five dozen people.

Ahmad was brought dead to the local sub-district hospital, doctors said.

Jameela Begum of Seer-Hamdan was also “critically injured” in the clashes. She has been hit by pellets in the head.

Protests were going on till the reports last came in.

Earlier, Musaib Ahmad, 17, from Sonawani in Kupwara district, who had received head injuries in clashes at Wadoora, Sopore, in Baramulla district on Sunday, succumbed to his injuries at the SMHS hospital here on Monday night.

Meanwhile, a day after the return of the all-party delegation that visited the Valley, curfew-like restrictions continued in Srinagar and other areas as the current unrest entered day 60 on Tuesday.

There were reports of clashes between the protesters and police in Rangreth and Chhanapora areas on the outskirts of Srinagar city since Monday. Restrictions on pedestrian movement were imposed with heavy deployment of police and CRPF personnel in Rangreth area since Tuesday morning following the Monday clashes. Protests and clashes took place in Chhanapora area throughout Monday night after the youths blocked roads to prevent vehicular movement.

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Officials here said restrictions would continue under five police stations of downtown, even as they continued in other areas of the capital city. Curfew-like restrictions are continuing in several other areas with concertina wires and barricades preventing the vehicular movement.

Restrictions are also in force in other areas--all four districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian in south Kashmir. Restrictions, coupled with a complete shutdown across the valley for the past two months, have paralysed normal life with shops and business establishments closed and traffic off the roads. Educational institutes continue to remain closed while the attendance in government offices is thin.