“Forces responded when large crowds defied restrictions. Many were injured on both sides during the clashes that followed”, a local police officer told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
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Though police said restrictions on assembly of people under Section 144 CrPC continued in Ganderbal and Bandipora, the situation on the ground was totally different.
A 14-year-old-boy identified as Momin Iqbal Ginai who was injured in the clashes between the security forces and protesters in Harwan area of Srinagar district died on Friday night, taking the toll to 89. The action triggered protests against the Indian armed forces.
Internet and mobile networks have also been cut off in a bid to prevent protests. Other officials said at least 100 people were injured.
Khan said journalists were allowed to cover the protests only after the intervention of senior-level officials.
On the other hand, the puppet authorities, continuing their arrest spree, sent 13 more innocent Kashmiri youth to Central Jail, Baramulla, and Kotbhalwal Jail in Jammu under draconian law Public Safety Act. “People desperately want something to happen this time”.
As many as 81 people including two policemen have been killed in the unrest that broke out a day after Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani was gunned down in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir on July 8.
The government has come under growing pressure over the level of casualties.
Security forces, however, claim that they fired pellets from a distance, which should not have caused the boy’s death.
“The body clearly had pellet injuries and apparently bore some torture marks”, the villager said.
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Kashmir lies at the heart of a bitter territorial dispute since India and Pakistan became independent in 1947.
