Protests Intensify Across Kashmir, Valley Under Curfew

SRINAGAR: Curfew has been imposed in parts of Kashmir valley to thwart a separatist-sponsored march with the Union Home secretary arriving here later in the day to take stock of the security situation in the aftermath of the Uri attack.

Protests and clashes continue to rock parts of the valley with the authorities imposing curfew in areas of Baramulla, Pulwama, Shopian and Srinagar districts where heightened deployment of forces has been done since last night to prevent any mass gathering.

In its weekly protest program, the Hurriyat Conference had urged people to march to the three districts Baramulla, Srinagar and Pulwama to register their protest against the spate of civilian killings.

People continued to defy curfew in the valley on 73rd day since the civil uprising erupted after Burhan Wani's killing with clashes breaking out in Shopian and Srinagar districts on Monday morning.

According to police and witnesses, at least dozen protesters were wounded when forces pounced on an anti-India and pro-freedom rally in Shopian district. A school building was also gutted in the district's Vihil.

At many places across the region, pro-freedom protesters led by Hurriyat activists have set up barricades where commuters are turned away, sometimes with force, resulting in the loss of inter-district connectivity.

Meanwhile, the chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who strongly condemned the Uri attack yesterday, participated in the wreath-laying ceremony of 17 Army soldiers who laid down their lives, an Army spokesperson said. She also visited the injured soldiers admitted at the Army's 92 Base hospital.

Two of the 17 soldiers hail from Jammu and Kashmir while four are from Uttar Pradesh, three from Bihar, three from Maharashtra, two each from West Bengal and Jharkhand and one from Rajasthan.

Their mortal remains will be flown to their home states later in the day, the Army spokesperson said.

The situation in Kashmir remains tense with the Uri attack casting shadow on any likelihood of engagement between India and Pakistan to end the over two-month long agitation which has taken huge human and economic toll on the impoverished state.

However, a day after the attack, the peace bus service connecting the two parts of Kashmir, controlled by India and Pakistan, operated as per schedule. Officials said the Karwan-e-Aman bus was the only vehicle allowed to cross the Uri town where the attack took place.

(Photograph Basit Zargar: funeral service for soldiers killed in Uri attack)