Youth killed in police action as protests break out in Srinagar after Modi’s visit

Srinagar: An 18-year-old youth was killed when hit by a teargas canister on his head as protests broke out between irate mobs and police at some places in Jammu and Kashmir’s capital Srinagar soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had addressed a rally here on Saturday.

Police and witnesses said that groups of people, mainly youth, took to streets chanting pro-freedom slogans in Zainakote area of the City and when police and CRPF tried to disperse them, the youth indulged in stone-pelting.

Security forces fired teargas canisters into the crowd and one of them hit Shahid Ahmed Dar, an 18-year-old resident, in the head. He was rushed to Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) where he succumbed to his injuries later.

As the word about the teenager’s death spread, clashes between surging crowds and security forces broke out in several other areas of Srinagar.

Earlier, a security clampdown was enforced in the summer capital and neighbouring areas whereas security elsewhere in the Valley and parts of Jammu region had been tightened further for the Prime Minister’s visit. Official sources said that following the teenager’s killing, curfew-like restrictions in parts of Srinagar may remain in force for the third consecutive day on Sunday.

Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has called for a protest shutdown in Kashmir on Sunday against the teenager’s killing. “On one hand Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed unceasingly talk about empowering youth of Kashmir but, on the other hand, trigger-happy forces miss no opportunity in spilling the innocent blood of Kashmiri youth,” he said in a statement here. Several other separatist parties and groups have endorsed the shutdown call.

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