Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s peace plea fails: People take to streets, pelt stones at security forces.
The unending cycle of violence in Kashmir continued on Thursday, with a 48-year-old labourer and a youth falling to the bullets of security forces.
The labourer, Ghulam Nabi Badyari, was seriously injured in firing by security forces on Wednesday evening and breathed his last in hospital in the morning, while the youth, Shabir Ahmad Malik, was killed when security forces fired at a protesting mob.
With these deaths, the toll in violence since last Friday rose to 31.
After being shot at in Ganpatyar area of Srinagar, Badyari was rushed to hospital but could not survive.
Police said he was injured when security forces opened fire at a mob trying to attack a bunker. But locals said Badyari was hit when he was going to purchase vegetables.
Before him, Mohammad Yaqoob Bhat of Nund Reshi Colony, Bemina, was shot dead by security forces, triggering a new wave of anger in Srinagar.
Thousands of people took to the streets after his death on Wednesday night raising pro-freedom slogans. Several spent the night on roads protesting the killing of Bhat.
Announcements were made from mosques to join his funeral.
Despite Hurriyat Hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani pleading for peace, a violent mob burnt down a rest room of State Road Transport Corporation in Baramulla and tried to attack police posts at Warpora in Sopore and Bana Mohalla, Srinagar.
Strict curfew remained in force in entire Kashmir with thousands of troops deployed on the streets to prevent assembly of people and marches, for which a call has been given by separatists.
Shabir Ahmad Malik was killed when security forces opened fired on a mob of 1,500 which allegedly tried to defy curfew and lead a protest march near Degree College, Pulwama. Despite persuasion, police said, the protesters indulged in heavy stone-pelting.
“Police and security forces used lathi-charge and teargas to disperse the mob, but it continued heavy stone-pelting. A number of police and CRPF men were injured which forced us to use fire. Shabir Ahmad Malik of Lone Pora, Pulwama, was hurt and rushed to SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, where doctors declared him brought dead,” a police spokesman said.
A Kashmiri leader retorted: “Instead of applying balm to the wounds of people, the government is deploying more forces and giving shoot-and-sight orders.”
Meanwhile, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has written to UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon seeking his intervention to force New Delhi to stop alleged human rights violations and resolve Kashmir issue.
“The current upheaval and unabated killing of Kashmiris is a reminder to the UN to intervene at the earliest and resolve the Kashmir issue once for all. We, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, also request you to appoint a UN representative to Kashmir to take stock of the situation here and pressure India to put an immediate stop to the massacre in Kashmir,” Mirwaiz wrote.
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