SRINAGAR: Dozens were injured as Kashmir Valley was rocked with widespread violence yesterday, following government inaction in the case of alleged rape and murder of two young women by Indian security forces in the southern township of Shopian.
The violence which remained confined to the Shopian town, 60 km from here till Saturday, engulfed all major and minor cities and towns with the protest strike called by hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani paralyzing normal life yesterday.
Police fired warning shots in the air and used tear gas and batons to quell thousands of angry protesters across Kashmir yesterday. More than 100 people, including 15 police officers, were injured in clashes in Srinagar, the main city of Indian Kashmir, and several towns in the region, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir’s main separatist conglomerate of nonviolent political groups, called for a strike yesterday to protest the deaths. Businesses, schools and government offices in Indian Kashmir closed.
Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ordered a judicial probe into the deaths, but said that the initial findings “point in a direction that does not suggest either rape or murder.”
Omar told a news conference immediately after his arrival from Delhi that a retired high court judge, Justice Muzaffar Jan, would head the inquiry which would be completed within one month.
The government also shifted the Shopian District Magistrate Mohammad Ramzan Thakur for what the chief minister said had been his “failure in the discharge of duties”.
— With input from agencies
