Shayan Nabi
SRINAGAR: An indefinite curfew is in its fourth day today in Shopian district of south Kashmir after the killing of four youth by the paramilitary CRPF soldiers.
Authorities have also imposed a curfew in the nearby Kulgam district, to which one of the slain youth belonged, and also in Pulwama town to prevent violence.
A journalist in the area told FreePress that authorities have sealed off all entry points to Shopian to prevent influx of protestors.
Octogenarian separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, had urged residents of all towns in the southern valley to converge in Shopian to protest against the killings.
The journalist added that angry youth have defied curfew in Gagren village, the site of the Saturday killings, where violent protests have begun.
He, however, said that shops are open and normal life has not been affected in Anantnag town.
Nothing Clear
CRPF authorities say they killed three youth and wounded two after they retaliated against militants who had attacked their camp at Gagren.
However the police in its latest statement has said that three of the four slain youth were civilians and that only one was a militant.
However it is still silent on what exactly happened and how the killing took place.
A local news agency quoted an eyewitness woman as saying that she saw CRPF soldiers shooting dead three locals besides a non-local mason. The police say the “non-local, unclaimed and unidentified” is Abdullah Haroon, a militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit.
The killings have caused outrage in the valley, where a shutdown was also observed on Sunday. Separatists and ordinary people insist all the four slain youth were civilians killed in “cold blood”.
Interesting, even pro-India political parties including the main opposition PDP have condemned the killings in “unprovoked firing” by the CRPF.
Authorities in Kashmir have said they will call for an inquiry only “if need arose”.
But the State Human Rights Commission has taken Suo Moto cognizance of the incident and has asked Kashmir’s police chief and the head of the civil administration in Shopian to file a factual report.
