| Indian troops have been authorized to use lethal force against anyone crossing the LOC. Ten are confirmed dead in Police firing |
Five persons, including senior Hurriyat Conference leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz, were killed as police and security forces resorted to firing to disperse thousands of people marching towards Line of Control in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. Hundreds of people, including Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi and Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah have been injured in the firing incidents across the Valley. | Guess Asiya Andrabi won't be throwing acid on anyone for a while |
The hospitals, facing acute shortage of life-saving drugs and first-aid supplies, are filled with injured persons. The authorities clamped curfew in Srinagar city to counter backlash but resentment is brewing in every nook and corner of the Valley.
The Governor Administration has not issued any details on the happenings of the day. All the provincial and district heads of police and bureaucracy remained tightlipped on the worsening situation, which emerged in reaction to the "economic blockade" of Kashmir valley by protesters of Jammu.
The fruit growers and dealers of Kashmir had announced that they will take the fruit-laden trucks to Muzaffarabad. The call was endorsed by both factions of Hurriyat Conference and mainstream People's Democratic Party, which was part of coalition Government till June last. The fruit growers alleged that apples and pears worth crores of rupees rotted in the trucks as Jammu protesters demanding return of forest land to Amarnarth Shrine Board refused to allow them pass through Jammu for the past one month.
Sources said that Sheikh Aziz and Shabir Ahmad Shah were leading tens of thousands of marchers towards Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. They started from fruit market Sopore early in the morning. The procession was fired upon at Sangrama, in which two persons died, but continued to march until it reached Chehal village, 10 km short of border town of Uri. Sources said the Army and the police put barricades before the tempestuous protesters but they refused to turn back. Eyewitnesses said that on failing to turn the marchers back, troops opened fire, which resulted in heavy casualty. More than two dozen injured persons, most of them carrying bullet injuries were carried to Baramulla and Srinagar hospitals where Sheikh Aziz and three other succumbed to injuries. Sources said that Shiekh Aziz was hit in his abdomen.
The agitators set ablaze police station at Baramulla and destroyed dozens of police and security bunkers. They also torched the residential house of a SHO who allegedly ordered to fire upon the marchers at Chehal village.
Early morning, thousands of people marched from many city areas towards the Parimpora Fruit Mandi, the venue for the Muzaffarabad march. When the protesters reached near Karan Nagar, police and troops, which were deployed in advance, cane-charged the protesters besides firing in air. Chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Syed Asiya Andrabi also fered injury in the incident. Undeterred by massive use of force, the protesters, however, carried on with the march and they were joined by thousands on their way.
When the procession reached Qamarwari, police again used force to quell the protesters .The police also resorted to firing resulting in the death of Ishfaq Ahmad Mir besides injuries to dozens.
The police had put barricades on Srinagar-Jammu national highway to prevent thousands of marchers from south Kashmir. More than a dozen marchers were injured at Shopian and Samboora villages.
Reports said that Sheikh Aziz's body was taken to Jamia Masjid in old Srinagar where appeals are being made to the people to come out for protests and defy prohibitory orders. The Hurriyat Conference has announced that burial of the slain Hurriyat leader would not take place until house-arrested Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani are freed. |
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