Srinagar, September 21, 2013 Reports said that at least a dozen people were injured in Indian police violent action against protesters in Srinagar, Bandipore and Baramulla areas.
Curfew remained in force for the 15th consecutive day in Shopian, while life in Kashmir remained paralyzed in the wake of strike against Shopian killings and continuous curfew in the district.
Locals said that police and paramilitary CRPF personnel wearing riot gear and armed with automatic weapons manned the streets of the township throughout the day and nobody was allowed to venture out. Police locals said had barricaded the entry and exit points leading to the town to scuttle any attempts of protests.
Locals said they are facing acute shortage of essentials, including medicines and baby food. The locals complained that due to the continuous curfew in the town for last two weeks they are not able to harvest their fruit and crops. “We have been confined to our homes at a time when our fruit is at its ripening stage. We can neither harvest our fruit nor crops. Our fruit in orchards has rotten for want of harvest. The fruit industry is the back bone of the town but the continuous curfew for over two weeks is telling badly upon our fruit,” said a fruit grower, Mohammad Aslam.
Another orchardist, Bashir Ahmad said that huge damage has been caused to the fruit for want of harvest. “In both our orchards and at fruit mundi apples worth crores of rupees have already been damaged as they could not be plucked and packed in time due to strict curfews and restrictions imposed by the authorities in the town,” he said.
Hundreds of Indian police and CRPF men donning riot gears were deployed in Srinagar and other towns of Kashmir to thwart any protests.
Protests erupted in old Srinagar, Bandipora and Baramulla districts despite authorities deploying heavy contingents of police and paramilitary CRPF men. Scores of youth assembled at Rajouri Kadal, Nowhatta, Khawaja Bazaar and Khanyar areas and tried staging pro-freedom demonstrations. However, police and CRPF personnel used brute force and resorted to baton charge and fired numerous tear smoke canisters to disperse the protesters, who retaliated with stones triggering clashes that continued throughout the day.
Indian police arrested Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir Altaf Ahmad Shah, son-in-law of Syed Ali Gilani from his residence in Srinagar.
Indian troops arrested seven youth from Nawab Bazaar in Srinagar
Five persons were injured in police actions in Bandipora district when Indian army went on rampage in the town near Nowpora. Witnesses said the road clearance party barged into residential houses in Nowpora, main market areas and thrashed whosoever came in their way. "They pelted stones on houses and a private hospital and broke the window panes," they added. The incident triggered violent protests in the. Indian Army resorted to aerial firing to quell the protests that led to the clashes.
In Baramulla town witnessed said that paramilitary forces and Police lobbed scores of tear smoke shells to quell the protesters at Tehsil road, near sumo stand and at Khanpora Bridge.
Strict restrictions continued in Palhallan area of Pattan on Saturday to prevent any clashes between the police and the protesters. All the shops were closed and almost all streets wore a deserted look.
The authorities continued to put the All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and other Hurriyet leaders including Syed Ali Geelani, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Bilal Ghani Lone, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Zafar Akbar Butt and Shahidul Islam under house arrest while Mukhtar Ahmed Waza in Saddar police station Islamabad and Syed Saleem Gilani in Rainawari police station Srinagar.