KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Kashmir started its 70th day of crisis with re-imposition of curfew like restrictions for most of the capital city that coincided with the death of another young man. Ubiquitous cops and paramilitary men are bee-lining Srinagar streets as new drop-gates have emerged to restrict movement.
Hospital sources Kashmir Life that Basit Mukhtar, an 21-year old youth, admitted to the SMHS hospital passed away during wee hours on Friday. He was admitted to the hospital on September 5, after being hit in a clash with police. He underwent a surgical intervention but lost his battle for life. Reports said he had received apparently a tear smoke shell on his head creating an irreparable damage. He was a resident of Dalipora, a town locality.
Civil authorities in Pulwama told Kashmir Life that they have imposed curfew restrictions even as the slain boy would be laid to rest after Friday prayers. The town is very tense, they said.
On Thursday, police said curfew restrictions have been withdrawn from across Kashmir though restrictions under section 144 shall remain in place. On Friday morning, locals saw massive deployments on the streets, restricting the movement of the people. There were lot of drop-gates which cops started manning, mostly in the old city.
“We left home at 5 am because we had to catch a flight, almost 13 hours later in the evening,” one young man told Kashmir Life at the airport road. “It would have been really very difficult to get the flight if we had not moved out of old city well before the cops would enforce curfew.” The boy has to appear in an examination outside the state.
Authorities in Kashmir are fighting a separatist sponsored strike plan that mostly revolves round strike or processions. The one, made public Thursday night, is termed to be harsher than earlier ones because it offers no space for relaxation. A similar plan on Eid when separatists had asked the people to move towards the UN office in the city, had panicked the government thus imposing massive curfew restrictions and blocking people from Eid prayers in most of the major mosques across the state. Two days later, Tariq Hameed Karra resigned as MP and from his party, in protest against this “religious ingression”.
Separatists had permitted people to open market and busy in the routine between dusk and dawn – 6 pm to 6 am, a provision that they withdrew on Thursday. Kashmir has suffered massive business losses as the markets and most of the trading is not happening for last 70 days. Educational institutions, government and private offices are closed as public transport is also off the roads.
