17 August 2010 Kashmir

Kashmir returns to normal sans few towns Injured man succumbs, toll 59

Srinagar, August 17: After days of curfew and restrictions coinciding with separatist shutdowns, Kashmir valley returned to normal sans few towns even as one of the injured persons succumbed to wounds, taking the death toll in the prevailing unrest to 59.

At the crack of the dawn this morning, a thirty-five year-old, Mohammad Abass Doubi, succumbed to wounds at SK Institute of Medical Sciences here, after he was allegedly thrashed by security forces during a protest demonstration in his native Mattan village in southern Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Doubi, according to the doctors at SKIMS had sustained extensive damage in spinal cord, leading to his paralysis.

As a precautionary measure, authorities clamped curfew in Mattan and the Anantnag towns before the body was send to the native village for burial.

However, as soon as the news about Doubi’s death spread, a large number of people defied the curfew and participated in his funeral prayers.

Soon after the man was laid to rest, clashes broke out in Mattan, Seer Hamdan, Khanabal, Lal Chowk, Lazibal, Sarnal and other adjoining areas. There were no reports about injury to anyone in the clashes.

In the afternoon, official sources said, about 400 ‘miscreants’ torched irrigation hut.

Three persons sustained minor wounds when security forces fired tergas canisters to disperse a group of stone-pelting mob at Main Chowk Pulwama district, the official sources said.

Two persons sustained bullet wounds when a group of stone-pelting mob attacked a

Vehicle of 164 Battalion CRPF near Hangulgund at Kokernag. Both the injured, who sustained bullets in leg, were shifted to Srinagar, about 80 kilometers, for specialized treatment.

While as there was no curfew following relaxation for a complete day by separatists, a mob attacked a police vehicle at Palhalan in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district around 10 O’clock. “The large mob surrounded the vehicle and attacked it fiercely from all directions and the personnel on board the vehicle fired some shots in self defense,” a police spokesman said here. “Had they not fired, the mob would have lynched them,” the spokesman said. Three persons sustained bullet injuries and their condition as per the police was stable.

In the neighboring Bandipore district, at least seven people were injured when security forces burst teargas canisters and opened fire on a stone-pelting group near main Chowk this afternoon.

A few youth were injured in Bemina, JVC, Maisuma, Habak and Hazratbal areas in the Srinagar after clashes broke out between security forces and the stone-pelting mobs. Severe restrictions were claimed in interior areas of Batamaloo following an accidental death of a retired police cop in the civil lines area. As per locals the 65-year-old ASI, Mohammad Yousaf Khanwas hit a security forces vehicle at Nund Reshi Colony Batamaloo, resulting in his on the spot death. Soon after the death, massive protests erupted in the area. Security forces opened fire after teargas shelling failed to control the mob. Two persons sustained injuries, sources said.

Violence apart, normalcy returned in most parts of the Kashmir as shops and other business establishments including commercial banks opened after several days of continuous unrest in the Valley. All the schools, Kashmir University and colleges opened in Srinagar, the summer capital of state, and elsewhere to offer some succor to the students who along with other family members remained cooped for days together due to strike and curfew in the recent past.

As hundreds of vehicles, both public and private, returned life to the city roads, it simultaneous brought about massive traffic jams. The most severe congestion occurred in Dalgate area, the main entry to capital city Lal Chowk. Although heavy traffic is not uncommon, the traffic cops were caught unawares.

“The situation remained by and large peaceful,” police spokesman said in a handout.