Four injured in clashes in Kashmir, shutdown in Srinagar

Srinagar, October 29

At least four persons were injured on Tuesday in clashes between protesters and security forces in Kashmir where a complete shutdown was observed in Srinagar and some other parts, officials said.

The clashes broke out on a day when a delegation of 23 European Union MPs arrived here for a first-hand assessment of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir following revocation of the state’s special status under Article 370.

Police officials said clashes broke out at several places in Kashmir between protestors and security forces, resulting in injuries to four persons.

The clashes were going on in many places in the city and some other places in the valley when reports last came in.

Normal life remained disrupted in Kashmir for the 86th day following abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

Markets remained closed while transport remained off the roads due to the clashes, the officials said.

Vendors, who had regularly set up their stalls over the past two months, also did not turn up today, they said.

However, board examinations for class 10 are being held as per schedule with worried parents waiting outside exam halls for their children.

“The situation is not conducive for children to write examinations. The government should have postponed today’s paper,”Arshad Wani, who was waiting outside an examination hall at Iqbal Park, said.

He said the safety of children should be paramount for stakeholders of the society.

The efforts of the state government to open schools over the past three months have not borne any fruit as parents kept children at home due to apprehensions about their safety.

While landline and postpaid mobile phone services have been restored across the valley, all Internet services continue to remain suspended since August 5.

Most of the top level and second rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders including two former chief ministers—Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti—have been either detained or placed under house arrest.

The government has detained former chief minister and sitting Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah under the controversial Public Safety act. —PTI