In a bid to end street protests, police have launched a massive crackdown against “hooligans and miscreants” in Kashmir and arrested almost 500 youth from across the valley.
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Police and witnesses said the protesters defied the security restrictions to demand an end to Indian rule in the disputed region.
More than 50 persons have been killed, including two policemen, and almost 6000 others injured in the ongoing street protests in Kashmir since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, and his two associates in an encounter with security forces on July 8.
Locals say government forces fired tear gas in Pampore after thousands of people offered funeral prayers for a young man, one of the two civilians killed overnight.
A senior police officer said most of the main towns across the Valley, including the summer capital Srinagar, continue to remain under curfew while the separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik have been either detained or jailed.
The other victim, who was among the protesters, was a private guard at a bank in Srinagar. The initial investigation suggests he died from a pellet wound as he had more than 360 small pellet balls in his body. His family blamed paramilitary soldiers for fatally shooting him.
Beopar Mandal Banihal and Imam of central Jamia Masjids Banihal had called shutdown for four days against the civilian killings and continued curfew in Kashmir valley and had also said that they will follow the strike programmes of separatist leadership.
Both neighbors claim the region in full but have partial control over it. India controls two thirds of Kashmir while the remaining one third is under the Pakistani rule.
The resident was killed on Tuesday night when the bodyguard of a top district administrator fired his service weapon at protesters who had stopped the pair’s vehicle, witnesses said.
Fresh protests in Indian-held Kashmir Friday left at least two protesters dead and more than 100 injured, taking the death toll from almost a month of unrest to 54.
Indian-held Kashmir has spiralled into unrest with nearly daily anti-India protests and clashes since the killing on July 8 of popular young rebel leader Burhan Wani in a gunfight with soldiers.
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More than 68,000 people have been killed in the armed uprising against Indian rule and the subsequent Indian military crackdown.
