Four persons were injured when security forces opened fire on a mob at Saderkote Bala in the border district of Bandipora.
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Officials said that Sunday was the first day without any civilian casualty since the violence engulfed the Valley on July 9, following the killing of Hizb Commander Burhan Wani in a gunfight with the forces on July 8. This was the ninth day of curfew in force in these areas and residents clearly have been caught in worst living conditions with no or little eatables available to them. Barring BSNL post-paid telephone and broadband internet services, all private mobile telephone services have been snapped.
Police and para-military personnel have been deployed in strength to maintain law and order. The Centre on Sunday rushed 20 more additional companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to Kashmir to strengthen its security grid.
“Some of the fresh units will exclusively render the task of road opening parties in order to secure the movement of security forces convoys”, a senior official said. Also, two fully equipped infantry battalions of the Army were brought from Jammu on Tuesday, mainly to protect the camps and other installations apart from for their deployment in most sensitive areas close to cantonments.
Customers are not able to make calls to any phone outside their respective home districts.
According to the Kashmir Media Service, the Internet service and mobile phone services remained suspended, aggravating miseries of the people of the Valley. However, government sources said the step has been taken to contain the violent protests.
Earlier on Friday, the Chenab valley in Jammu region witnessed a shutdown whereas protests were held also in frontier districts of Poonch and Rajouri over the Valley happenings.
Inter-exchange calls on all telephone connections, except the mobile services of the public sector undertaking, have been suspended due to the prevailing law and order situation.
Jammu and Kashmir Police had allegedly raided the offices of at least two newspaper printing presses in Rangreth Industrial Estate in the outskirts of the city here barring them from printing the newspapers.
All schools, colleges and universities have been closed till July 24. If the situation returns to normal, the institutions will reopen on July 25.
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The separatists groups have extended the strike call till this evening. “We have chose to extend the summer vacations in the schools and colleges of the Valley by one week”, Education Minister Naeem Akhtar told PTI.
