Curfew paralyses life in J&K, security restrictions to continue tomorrow

Srinagar: A protest shutdown and official security lockdown paralysed life in the scenic restive Valley on the second consecutive day on Thursday.

J&K policemen and CRPF personnel in riot gear enforced curfew-like restrictions in major parts of summer capital Srinagar whereas uninterrupted curfew remained in force in north-western Handwara town and its neighbourhood.

Authorities have announced curfew and curfew-like restrictions in the area, stating that it would continue on Friday as well.

Mobile Internet services were suspended as many people took to social networking sites earlier to vent their anger following the killing of four persons in security forces’ firing in Handwara earlier this week.

Also photographs and videos of security forces’ “atrocities” were being uploaded on Facebook and Twitter.com and circulated through WhatsApp. Rail services remained suspended for the second day Thursday for security reasons.

Read: J&K’s Handwara remains tense, mobile internet services suspended

Handwara, located at a distance of 72 kilometers from Srinagar, had on Tuesday witnessed clashes between irate crowds and security forces following alleged molestation of a female student by an Army soldier.

The security forces opened fire on the protesters, killing three of them including a budding cricketer and a woman and injured a few others. As the protests spread to new areas, another youth was killed when hit in the head by a police teargas canister in neighbouring Dragmulla area on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the police has detained the 16-year-old student and her father even after a video was circulated by Army on Wednesday showing her saying she was harassed by two local youth and that there was no Army jawan present in the public lavatory where she was believed to have been molested.

Read: BJP demands thorough probe into Handwara violence

The video was apparently recorded in a police station on April 12 and her family said she has not been allowed to return home since.

It said that on Wednesday night, her father was also called to the Handwara police station. After reporting to the police station along with his brother, his whereabouts are not known and the family has been denied access to the girl-father duo.

The civil society sees in it a pressure tactic on part of the police to force the family to withdraw allegations against the Army. “Further, the manner in which the video has been recorded and then circulated is a gross violation of the special protections afforded to minors particularly during investigation of sexual assault cases.

The actions of the police and the Army would necessarily invite criminal prosecution if investigated,” Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society said in a statement here.

Handwara has been declared out of bounds for media persons. While Sajad Lone, local MLA and a minister in the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government visited the town to assess the situation following a request from the Chief Minister, his elder brother Bilal Lone who is a leader of separatist Hurriyat Conference alliance faction was detained by police on way to their home town. Handwara is a bastion of regional Peoples’ Conference, the legacy of slain Abdul Gani Lone now being shared by his two sons Bilal and Sajad.

Even mainstream opposition National Conference party leaders were allegedly refused security by the authorities, forcing them to abandon their plan to visit Handwara. Most other separatist leaders and activists have either been placed under house arrest or detained in police stations after they were taken into ‘preventive custody’.

Strict restrictions are being imposed also in Kupwara, the other major town of the northwest Valley, and neighbourhood areas of Kralgund, Magam, Dragmulla and Langaet. Clashes and incidents of stone-throwing on police by irate crowds have been reported from different parts of the Valley. Police said the overall situation throughout the Valley remained peaceful barring a few incidents of stone pelting in Handwara and Srinagar. “The (security) deployments exercised maximum restraint and there were no reports of injuries to any civilian although some cops were injured, one of them seriously who was referred to Srinagar from Handwara,’ it said.

In Srinagar, strict restrictions were enforced in areas falling under six police stations of politically ‘super-sensitive’ central Srinagar. Elsewhere shops and other businesses remained shut as the separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Muhammad Yasin Malik had announced that the strike call for Wednesday issued to protest and mourn the killing of three persons in Handwara has been extended by one day following the killing of another youth in Dragmulla.

Chief Minister, Ms. Mufti, who arrived here from a visit of Delhi on Thursday morning immediately closeted with senior administration and security forces officers for a review of the situation. In the Union capital, she had had meetings with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, and some other ministers to discuss the issues confronting Jammu and Kashmir and the law and order situation in the backdrop of Handwawara incidents. She also met BJP president, Amit Shah, before leaving for Srinagar.