Cops pull out of J&K streets

SRINAGAR: Amidst growing rage against the land allotment to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), the J&K government on Friday withdrew all policemen from the streets to avoid the violent clashes that have claimed three lives and injured over 200 in the past five days across Kashmir.

Though the violence was relatively less on Friday, thousands of people descended on the Srinagar streets reminiscing the uprising of 1990 when militancy started in Kashmir.
Authorities suspended the Amarnath yatra from here in view of the strike in the valley over the land transfer. The devotees were not allowed to proceed from Bhagwati Nagar base camp to the cave shrine of Lord Shiva in the Kashmir Himalayas, sources said.

“Police and CRPF men have been directed to exercise maximum possible restraint. Police will also approach senior citizens in various localities to request them to talk to the agitators so normalcy could be restored in the valley,” said Shiv Murari Sahai, inspector-general of police, Kashmir range.

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