SRINAGAR: Officials in Indian Kashmir yesterday said at least 69 people have been injured in clashes between government forces and demonstrators. The latest unrest comes after separatist groups ended a weeklong strike triggered by the deaths of two women.
Clinic official Mukhtar Ahmed said yesterday some 53 people were injured when police used tear gas and wooden sticks to disperse hundreds of protesters in Tukroo, a village south of Srinagar. Police officer Sajad Ahmad said a further 16 people suffered injuries in clashes in nearby Pulwama when protesters attacked a police station with rocks.
Demonstrations began May 30 after the bodies of a 17-year-old girl and her 22-year-old sister-in-law were found in a stream in Shopian, south of Srinagar. Locals claim the women were raped and killed by Indian soldiers.
Police fired warning shots and tear gas to quell demonstrators even as schools, shops and government offices reopened as separatist groups ending a weeklong strike called to protest the deaths of two young women.
Police and paramilitary forces used tear gas and wooden sticks to disperse hundreds of protesters in Tukroo, a village nearly 60 kilometers south of Srinagar, Mukhtar told reporters.
There were no protests in Shopian, the women’s hometown, but shops and businesses remained closed yesterday.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of Muslim students marched through the streets of the summer capital Srinagar. More than 400 students marched peacefully through the streets of Srinagar, demanding Geelani’s release.
“The detention of our leader is not acceptable,” said Feroze Ahmed, a graduate student. Similar peaceful demonstrations were held in other towns in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley.
In most of the region, schools, shops and banks opened yesterday after separatists called for an end to their eight-day long general strike, but the women’s hometown of Shopian remained shut up. Separatists have urged students to continue daytime protest marches.
Vehicles were also back on the streets and Kashmiris thronged shops in the main city of Srinagar and other places after a week of unrest that left one person dead and more than 400 injured.
Kashmiri separatist groups decided not to extend the general strike, originally called for one week. But Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a key pro-Pakistan separatist leader who was detained by police two days ago, has called for a second week of protest marches.
