Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR: Curfew has been imposed in parts of capital Srinagar and some other major towns to prevent violent protests over the killing of a young man in north Kashmir on Tuesday.
Tahir Ahmed Sofi died due to bullet injuries in the head and chest after the Army fired live bullets in Baramulla district, witnesses said.
Curfew has been imposed in Rainawari, Khanyar, Nowhatta, Safa Kadal and Maharajganj, Zadibal, Maisuma and Kralkhud areas of downtown Srinagar, a police spokesperson said.
He added that curfew has also been imposed in Baramulla, the hometown of the youth, and Sopore. A curfew is also imposed in Trehgam town in Kupwara district.
In southern valley curfew is in force in Kulgam and Pulwama town, the hometown of a young PhD student, Mudasir Kamran who was found hanging at his hostel room in Hyderabad on Saturday last.
There are conflicting versions of how Mudasir died: the separatists say that he was “tortured to death by Hindu fanatics”.
Elsewhere in the valley, shops and other businesses are closed and traffic has been affected. Police and paramilitaries in riot gear have been deployed in strength.
No separatist group has called for a shutdown.
But the Muttahida Majlis e Mashawarat or a joint advisory council of separatist groups has asked people in north Kashmir’s Kupwara to visit the house of late Maqbool Bhat who was hanged at TIhar jail in 1984.
The residents of Bandipora and Baramulla have been asked to pay a visit to the family of Afzal Guru, who was hanged at the same jail on Feb 9.
Colonel Blamed
Meanwhile the police have filed an FIR against the Army on the directions of the district head or the deputy commissioner of Baramulla. The FIR blames Colonel Dalbinder Singh for the killing, according to NDTV.
The Army has denied any involvement in the killing of Tahir Sofi saying a foot patrol of theirs came under attack by a group of angry youth. Hinting at the involvement of militants, an army spokesman said the patrol fired into the air “which could not have killed the youth”.
However a resident of the area told freepresskashmir.com over phone “some young boys were teasing the soldiers of 46 Rashtriya Rifles posted at Filtration Plant here and then they fired indiscriminately.
Even the chief minister Omar Abdullah told the legislative assembly immediately after the killing that “there were no reports that there were any militants who fired or that firing started from the side of the protesters”.
“We have dealt with stone pelting before,” an emotional Abdullah added while saying that the killing was unjustified.
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