Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have imposed a curfew and appealed for calm as six more people died in protests yesterday over the killing of a militant leader, taking the death toll in the violence to 21.
Burhan Muzaffar Wani, a commander in the Hizbul Mujahideen group, was killed along with two other militants on Friday, triggering clashes in the state.
Security forces opened fire on Saturday when police stations and paramilitary camps were targeted by mobs in a dozen areas in southern Kashmir, where the slain militant was based.
While 10 protesters died in the clashes on Saturday, seven more succumbed to injuries in hospitals yesterday.
In fresh protests yesterday, a policeman drowned after a mob attacked a police vehicle and rolled it down into a river in Anantnag district, state minister and government spokesman Naeem Akhtar told reporters.
Security forces shot dead two demonstrators in Pulwama district after crowds took to streets shouting anti-Indian slogans.
Another protester was killed in firing in the same region when a mob attacked the paramilitary forces, police said.
A total of 21 people, including 20 civilians and one policeman, were killed during the protests.
The curfew covered all 10 districts of the Kashmir Valley.
Troops erected barricades and placed barbed wire to prevent further protests, and mobile Internet services were blocked.
Additional troops were rushed to the troubled areas.
More than 200 people were injured in the protests, 96 of them security personnel.
Three policemen were missing.
Akhtar called on people to maintain peace and calm.
“We appeal to parents to stop their children from getting involved in protests and stone-pelting, which is forcing the security forces to fire and resulting in loss of innocent lives,” he said.
Wani, 22, joined the rebels at 15 and became one of the region’s most wanted militants, featuring prominently in propaganda and recruiting material on social media.
Protests erupted soon after news of Wani’s death spread as his funeral was attended by thousands in his hometown of Tral.
There were also reports of security forces attacking hospitals and ambulances treating the wounded.
“Attacking hospitals and ambulances is a crime under the international humanitarian law and Indian armed forces have been repeatedly accused of this crime in Kashmir,” the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, a rights group, said in a statement.
Police say protesters have set police stations on fire and thrown rocks at army camps in the south of the state.
It is the worst civilian violence to hit Kashmir since 2010, when mass protests broke out against Indian rule.
The government said it was also trying to arrange flights to fly out thousands of tourists stranded in the valley due to the violence.
In New Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, offering all help from New Delhi.
Also Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu accused Pakistan of influencing sympathisers of Wani, and warned it of a policy rethink on Delhi’s part.
“Some people, inspired by our neighbour, are trying to create disturbances. This is not going to help,” Naidui said.
“India is willing to work with Pakistan and would like to have friendship with the country. But if Pakistan continues to do such things, the (Indian) government has to think about its own policy. Pakistan should give up such tactics...,” Naidu said.
“(Wani) was a Hizbul Mujahideen commander. How can any Indian have sympathy for such people? Really surprised to see that some people are trying to support those so-called protesters sympathising with a terrorist,” the minister said.
“Terrorism and violence are not acceptable at all in any form.”
Senior officials expressed the hope that the situation in Kashmir would return to normal soon.
Separatists have called for a three-day protest strike in the region until today in protest of Wani’s killing.




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