Valley shuts over Srinagar killings

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 18

A shutdown was observed on Thursday across the Valley against the killing of militants and a “civilian” during a gunfight here on Wednesday.

In the summer capital, shops and business establishments remained closed and public transport remained off the roads. However, scanty private vehicles plied in the city.

The government had also imposed restrictions in the volatile old city to ensure peace. Security forces were also deployed in large number in the other parts of the city. The authorities have not restored the high-speed Internet which was suspended on Wednesday after the gunfight broke in the old city.

There were reports of shutdown in all towns and other parts of the Valley.

No major untoward incident took place in the Valley during the shutdown, a police officer said.

“Some minor incidents of stone-throwing were reported during the day,” he said

The shutdown call was given by separatists, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik.

Two local Lashkar-e-Toiba militants — Mehraj-ud-Din Bangroo and Fahad Mushtaq Waza — and a member of J&K Police’s Special Operation Group, Kamala Kishore, were killed in the gunfight in the Fateh Kadal area on Wednesday. Rayees Ahmad, the son of the house owner, where the militants were hiding was also killed. While the police termed Rayees to be the accomplice of militants, his family claimed that he was not associated with the ultras and was running their family business.

Thousands of people attended the funeral prayers of the trio in the old city amid “pro-freedom” slogans.

Protests rock Kashmir University

Massive protests erupted at the University of Kashmir on Thursday after a former student was killed in a brief gunfight in south Kashmir on Wednesday night. Showkat Ahmed, who was a resident of Awantipora, had done the B Pharmacy course from the university in 2017. He had joined the militant ranks two weeks ago. The students took out a protest rally and raised ‘pro-freedom’ slogans. The protesting students also offered funeral prayers in absentia for the student. Head of the pharmacy department Zulfikar Ali Bhat said Showkat was a good student. Earlier, the police said Showkat was killed in an ambush by the 50 Rashtriya Rifles of the Army and Special Operations Group of the state police at Dougam, Kakapora. An official said he was involved in Wednesday’s grenade attack at Pattan that left three policemen, including an officer, wounded.