Police fired into a crowd of stone-throwing students in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, as violence in the state intensified.
Hundreds of student protesters shouting “We want freedom” and “Go India, go back” fought with government forces after taking to the streets of the main city Srinagar.
Police fired live rounds as well as tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse the protesters as shoppers fled the violence and retailers shut down for the day.
The clashes broke out as colleges in the city reopened following skirmishes last week between students and government forces.
“A few students were detained. Three photojournalists and eight policemen were injured with stones,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Nearly 100 students and around the same number of police were wounded in last week’s disturbances, which prompted authorities to temporarily shut down schools and universities.
The students were angered by a raid earlier this month on a college in the southern district of Pulwama in which police attempted to detain the alleged ring-leaders of earlier protests.
Government forces are not supposed to enter college or university premises without special permission.
In a separate incident an official with the ruling People’s Democratic Party was shot by unknown attackers, later dying of his injuries, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Police said militants fired at Abdul Gani Dar when he was travelling in a car near Pingalana village, about 30km from Srinagar.
“He was shifted to Srinagar for treatment but he succumbed to injuries,” the police officer said. 
Dar headed the PDP in Pulwama district.
Kashmir has been tense since April 9, when eight people were killed by police and paramilitaries during election day violence.
Yesterday Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the developing crisis.
Mufti called for dialogue and an end to the violence.
“The first priority is to control the situation, because talks cannot take place amid bullets and stone-pelting,” she told reporters outside Modi’s residence after the meeting.
She said Modi intended to hold talks in a “conducive atmosphere” with all stakeholders to bring order to the troubled state as she invoked former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s policy, saying “talks” were the only way to “move forward”.
Mufti’s PDP formed a governing alliance with Modi’s ‘Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) after a 2015 election in the state.
That has made her party hugely unpopular in the mainly Muslim Kashmir Valley, home to most of its traditional support base.
Mufti met Modi to review the worsening security situation as speculations gained momentum about the possibility of Governor’s Rule in the state amid allegations that the PDP-BJP coalition government has failed to control law and order in the Kashmir Valley.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the valley. Several rebel groups have for decades been fighting troops and police deployed in the state.
The state had enjoyed several years of relative peace after an outbreak of violence in 2010.
But the killing last year of rebel leader Burhan Wani by security forces sparked widespread popular unrest, and police say dozens of local youths have joined the rebel ranks since then.
Footage apparently showing a civilian tied to the front of an army jeep to deter protesters from throwing stones at the vehicle has also caused outrage after it was circulated on social media.

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