Over 100 injured in day 2 of clashes in Valley

Srinagar turns lawless as mobs attack Army, shopkeepers, drivers; CRPF roughs up SHO

AHMED ALI FAYYAZ

SRINAGAR, Feb 3: With the authorities losing their grip on the situation, hundreds of stone pelting youth in entire Srinagar city today attacked Army, CRPF and Police vehicles. Even as Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) manhandled a Sub Inspector of J&K Police and four troopers got wounded at Rawalpora, over a hundred demonstrators and armed forces personnel are believed to have sustained injuries in today’s ding dong clashes between the demonstrators and security forces in the capital city and many other towns. Demanding a “free hand’ to deal with the demonstrators, CRPF is understood to have made it clear that paramilitary forces could not operate with “all our hands tied from behind”.

Without anybody’s call, Kashmir valley today observed yet another shutdown on the second consecutive day after a Hurriyat-sponsored bandh on Tuesday to protest a 15-year-old student Wamiq Farooq Wani’s “killing” in tearsmoke shelling from Police on a group of stone pelting youth here on Sunday last. Even as the people don’t seem to be involved in such clashes and demonstrations en masse so far, number of the participating youngsters has been remarkably growing. As compared to five or six downtown spots few days back, today’s clashes and demonstrations of violent groups were witnessed at more than 40 places in the capital city and another 20 spots at Baramulla, Anantnag, Bandipore, Kulgam and other major towns in Valley.

Facing heavy stone pelting of masked youth, who have begun to put up shields of 10-year to 12-year-olds in the front rows, Police and CRPF retaliated with considerable restraint. Well-placed sources revealed to Early Times that on the one hand, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had made it clear to the field forces that he would not tolerate even a minor act of excessive use of force or over-reaction, CRPF had on the other hand conveyed it to J&K Police that paramilitary forces could not operate with “all of our hands tied from behind”. DGP Mr Kuldeep Khoda held meetings with senior Police and CRPF officials in an attempt to strike balance.

CRPF officials are understood to have pointed out that a number of their armoured bunkers and camps had been attacked violently and groups of demonstrators were now coming too close to their posts with anti-national, pro-Pakistan slogans and other provocative gestures.

When groups of youngsters attacked CRPF bunkers and the soldiers captured a youth at Gojwara today, SHO Nowhatta, Sub Inspector Raja Tasleem, intervened and asked them to free the boy, who, according to him, was “innocent”. A CRPF unit, led by an officer, immediately abused the SHO. Eyewitnesses said that SHO was beaten to help, later rescued by his senior colleagues and rushed to SKIMS for medical treatment. The other day only, SHO Tasleem had got injured in stone pelting from a mob.

In another incident of serious nature, groups of youth attacked an Army convoy in the capital city outskirts of Rawalpora. As driver of one of the Army vehicles was hit and he lost control, his vehicle crashed into a shopline. It suffered extensive damage and four soldiers sustained injuries. However, troops observed incredible restraint and they did not react with their guns. Reports said that another mob tried to overturn and set ablaze a CRPF vehicle on the National Highway bypass at Bemina.

Sources said that in all, more than 100 persons sustained injuries in today’s clashes between the demonstrators and armed forces/ police in Srinagar and other major towns in Valley. They included at least 40 CRPF and J&K Police personnel. However, a Police spokesman maintained that only 10 personnel were reported injured in today’s clashes.

Sources said that two each you were critically wounded at Nowhatta and Nawakadal. While residents alleged that they had been hit by Police and CRPF, a Police spokesman said that a critically injured youth had got hit by a stone tossed by his colleagues from behind.

While the demonstrators and family members of the 15-year-old student are insisting that he got killed when an ASI directly fired a tearsmoke shell on his head, Doctors who examined him at SKIMS have reported today that Wamiq Maqbool had died of cardiac arrest. Wamiq’s family members took exception to the autopsy and said at a news conference that Dr Riyaz was as much “criminal” as the Police officer who, according to them, fired the tearsmoke canister on their son. They asserted that no kind of ex gratia relief would be acceptable to them and their one-odd demand was arrest and punishment of the personnel responsible.

With nobody’s call today, scores of youngsters converged on streets at different places in Srinagar and elsewhere. They enforced shutdown with heavy stone pelting on the vehicles in movement as also on the shops opening for business. Reports said that nearly 70 private vehicles and dozens of shops were damaged in these anarchical strikes.

Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq held a meeting with his colleagues and declared that his conglomerate would make a “peaceful march” to the UNMOGIP headquarters at Sonwar on February 8th to register protest against human rights abuse of the Indian Police and armed forces and seek UN intervention to end it in Kashmir.

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