SRINAGAR: A group of the youth reportedly resorted to stone pelting on the court complex in Shopian which was retaliated by the CRPF. At least five persons were reported injured in the tear smoke shelling and the pellets.
The entire town had converged in the local Eidgah to offer funeral prayers to Zubair Turay, one of the seven militants who was killed in Draggad, Sugan. After the funeral prayers were over, a group of resorted to stone pelting on the local court complex,
The angry youth had attempted getting into the court complex but it was resisted by the CRPF that operates from the premises. They used tear smoke shells and pellets in which at least five persons were injured.
Hospital sources said they have referred two of these freshly injured persons to Srinagar. It was not immediately known what kind of injuries they had on their bodies. The district hospital Shopian has sent nearly 40 injured persons to Srinagar since morning, hospital sources said.
Zubair Turay is one of the publicly debated cases of evolution of a militant. Records in public domain suggest that Turay was arrested for the first when he was 11 years old. After police chase prevented him from studying, Zubair has remained a stone pelter of the town. In 2009, he was in Kathua jail and in 2014 in Udhampur. He was arrested again for stone pelting in 2014 and not released. One day, he escaped from police custody and joined militants on May 1, 2017. In November last, police had held Turay responsible for the killing of a BJP activist Gowhar Bhat. Bhat’s throat-slit body was recovered near his Kiloora village.
In the afternoon, there were clashes between restive groups of youth and policemen at various places in Srinagar old city.
(The photograph used in this story is representational)
