SRINAGAR: An army officer and 11 separatist guerrillas were killed in a fierce gunbattle in Indian Kashmir, an army spokesman said yesterday. It was the highest number of people killed in a single firefight between separatist militants and Indian troops in the Himalayan region this year.
“The operation is still continuing and we think more terrorists are hiding in the forest,” Umamaheswar, an Indian Army spokesman who goes by one name said. An army officer was among the 12 killed, he said. “We have sent more troops in the area, we believe this group of terrorists has recently infiltrated,” Umamaheswar added.
The winter capital of Jammu was on boil yesterday with trouble against the revocation of the controversial forest land transfer to Shree Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) spilling into more areas, forcing the authorities to impose indefinite curfew in Jammu city, adjoining Samba district and Bhaderwah town in hilly Doda district.
Nearly 100 persons including 30 cops were injured in the two days of violent protests, which took a communal turn yesterday, with mobs targeting properties of the minority Muslim community. State authorities extended curfew to the entire Jammu city yesterday morning, following large-scale protests and violence in the wake of cancellation of the forestland allotment to SASB by the state government.
The Jammu district administration had imposed curfew Tuesday afternoon in areas falling under three police stations of Muthi, Bakshi Nagar and Rehari. “We have imposed an indefinite curfew in the entire Jammu city. We have deployed police in strength and in some areas paramilitary central reserve police force is enforcing the curfew. The situation is tense, but under control,” Inspector General of Police K. Rajendra told Arab News.
Angry protesters, however, defied curfew restrictions in several localities of the city and spilled on the streets to vent their anger against the cancellation of the allotment order. Bhaderwah town, where the administration imposed curfew following communal tension during the day happens to be the hometown of state Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Doda District Deputy Commissioner Khursheed Ahmad Bhat told Arab News that the curfew in the town was imposed as a precautionary measure.
He said 14 persons were injured when militants tossed a grenade at a rally of the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bhaderwah town yesterday afternoon. Army staged a flag march to enforce curfew in the Samba town of Jammu region in the afternoon following communal tension and protests.
The Deputy Commissioner of Samba, S. Bhagat, told Arab News that army soldiers were deployed to instill the confidence in the minority community following spread of trouble to the district from neighboring Jammu.
The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed to traffic from either side following trouble in the Udhampur district in the morning after protesters pelted stones on passing vehicles.
The BJP has called for a nationwide strike today against the cancellation of the land allotment order, which may further add to the prevailing tension.
Muslim separatist leaders called on Jammu residents to keep the peace yesterday.
“Our struggle is not against pilgrimages or any religion, but against India’s military occupation of Kashmir,” All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani told a news conference.
He also said a march would take place tomorrow to Hazratbal, a prominent shrine that houses Islamic relics.
Elsewhere in the state, businesses, schools and offices opened yesterday after nine straight days of violent anti-India protests that killed at least five people and injured hundreds.
