Kashmir Curfew has been extended to several places on Friday.
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Fearing anti-India protests after people in the mostly Muslim region attend afternoon prayers, tens of thousands of government forces patrolled the region. At least 40 civilians were reportedly injured, one critically.
Hundreds of people were injured when Indian troops used brute force to prevent people from staging demonstrations against civilian killings and conducting a march towards Aaripanthan in Badgam on Friday. “They want us to fire on them and we will not do it”.
“Curfew is in force in entire Srinagar district, Anantnag town and Pampore town, as a precautionary measure”, a police official said. While the NIA maintained that the probe was triggered by protests that followed Wani’s killing, it said an “investigation into funding of terror and unlawful activities was long overdue”.
A strict curfew and a series of communication blackouts have failed to stop six weeks of protests, as residents have struggled to cope with shortages of food, medicine and other necessities.
As many as 64 people, including two cops, have been killed in the clashes that began on July 9. However, prayers were allowed at small neighborhood mosques.
Dozens of volunteers received the injured at the hospital as ambulances brought them in from rural areas.
India’s top military commander in Kashmir, Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, told reporters Friday that soldiers would be deployed to secure highways and roads for traffic. “It’s unacceptable”, he said.
“On the basis of the details provided by the complainant, our team contacted the cab aggregator and sought the driver’s details following which he was picked up and arrested yesterday”, said a senior police officer.
A United Nations human rights official has expressed “deep regret” at the failure of both India and Pakistan to grant access to the separate parts of Kashmir that each runs to investigate allegations of serious human rights violations.
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“The United Nations remains convinced that it is only through dialogue that the outstanding issues between Pakistan and India, including on Kashmir, can be addressed”.
