Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR, July 28: A general shutdown is being observed in Kashmir valley over a call by senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to protest the killing of a youth in Army firing three days ago.
Shops, businesses and colleges remain shut in capital Srinagar, like in most parts of the valley, and traffic has been partially affected. However, banks and government offices continue to function normally.
A large contingent of police and paramilitaries in riot gear were seen lining streets of old parts of the city, witnesses said.
In Bandipora, life remains disrupted for the fourth day today due to a continuous strike by people who claim the youth was innocent and was killed “in cold blood” by the army men after he had left home for late night Ramadhan prayers.
Hilal Ahmed Dar, a 20-year-old youth was killed by soldiers on Tuesday night at Ashtengoo Naar in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district, triggering huge protests in the area. The next morning thousands of people marched in a procession with his body borne aloft, chanting pro-Islamic slogans and demanding that the soldiers be brought to book.
Defence Minister, A.K. Antony, who arrived in the valley today, has already ordered probe into the incident overruling the Army who had reiterated that the youth was a militant and that they killed him when he walked into an ambush and “fired at them on being challenged”.
Locals and relatives of the youth claimed that his dead body had torture marks which, they say, indicated he was killed after being tortured in custody”.
They said Dar sported long locks of hair and a beard and could have easily been “mistaken for a militant”.
While police maintain the killing was a case of mistaken identity, the authorities are also probing into the incident to verify all the claims.
Meanwhile all the senior separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Shabir Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Muhammad Nayeem Khan, have been placed under house arrest to prevent them from leading protests in the city.
