Srinagar: Protests have spread to north Kashmir after security forces killed a youth in the border district of Kupwara on Tuesday, even as the beleaguered Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti visited the martyrs graveyard in the curfew-bound old city to pay tributes to 1931 martyrs on Wednesday.
Police said a youth was killed after cops opened fire on a mob which attacked the police station and set on fire a vehicle in which policemen had got trapped at Kralpora village of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Tuesday.
This is the first killing of a protestor in the north Kashmir region since the unrest began on Friday when Hizbul Mujhadeen leader Burhan Muzaffar Wani was gunned down in an encounter at Kokarnag.
The entire mobile network in the border district of Kupwara has been suspended after the killing. Locals said that the only exception is BSNL, similar to south Kashmir where the BSNL network was restored after days of turmoil. Strict curfew is in place in Kupwara in a bid to prevent a flare up in the north Kashmir region.
This fresh flare up has come at a time when Mehbooba has appealed for peace and assured investigation into the excessive use force by the police and paramilitaries.
“Some people are playing politics over the dead bodies; it is the family members of these slain youth who have to live with this pain forever. I appeal everyone to help us in bringing back peace and normalcy in the state. Incidents where security personnel have acted harshly and have used excess force will be and dealt with", said Mehbooba.
Even as Kashmir remained under siege, Mehbooba visited martyrs graveyard at Naqshband Sahib in Old city to pay her respects to the 1931 martyrs on Wednesday.
Martyrs day is observed every year on July 13 in memory of the 22 Kashmiris who fell to the bullets of the police of the Dogra regime in 1931, marking the beginning of the uprising against the monarchy in Jammu and Kashmir
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah, however, hit at Mehbooba for what he said was “brazen shamelessness” to convey normalcy.
