Tral locked down as protest foiled

Majid Jahangir & Suhail A Shah

Tribune News Service

Srinagar/Anantnag, April 17

Hours after hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Masarat Alam was arrested, clashes erupted in Srinagar’s old city and the Tral area of south Kashmir, where restrictions were imposed today to foil a separatist-backed march.

In Srinagar’s old city, clashes left over a dozen protesters injured. Protesters also torched the Tricolour. The police fired tear smoke shells and a few aerial rounds to quell the protests.

Meanwhile, a curfew-like situation prevailed in Tral town of Pulwama district to foil the ‘Tral chalo’ call, extended by Syed Ali Geelani against the killing of a youth, Khalid Muzaffar, allegedly in Army action.

The state government late last night had decided not to allow the Tral march on the “advice” of the Centre and police inputs.

Eyewitnesses said clashes erupted in the volatile Nowhatta area of Srinagar when a group of people after the Friday prayers tried to take out a march against the killing of the Tral youth, which was not allowed by the police.

Protesters hurled stones at security forces and shouted pro-Pakistan, pro-separatist and anti-India slogans.

The protest march in Srinagar was led by chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Protests and clashes also took place in the Habbakadal area of Srinagar after the Friday congregational prayers.

While there were no restrictions in Srinagar in view of the Tral march, the police had sealed all entry points in Tral, leading to a tense situation and restricting civilian movement.

Barbed wires were laid on roads and security forces were deployed in full strength across Tral town, reports said.

Clashes, however, erupted in the town after the Friday prayers while people marched towards the houses of two slain youths, killed earlier this week.

Tral has been on the boil since Monday after the killing of Khalid Muzaffar Wani (19) in what the Army termed as an encounter.

A police spokesman said the situation remained by and large peaceful across Kashmir. He said stray incidents of stone-throwing were reported from the Nowhatta, Gojwara, Malarata and Khwaja Bazaar areas of Srinagar and in Tral town. “Three civilians and 21 policemen, including a Station House Officer, sustained minor injuries in clashes,” he said.