Yesterday’s spell of hectic activity in markets and streets –the result of a reprieve in hartal on shab-e-baraat - was a marked counterpoint to the silence reigning today as the Hurriyat (G)’s programme announced periodically since the fresh outbreak of civilian killings kept the valley shut down, with protest demonstrations being held in uptown Srinagar and at some places elsewhere in the valley.
Much of old Srinagar coming under the police stations of Maharajgunj, Khanyar, Nauhatta, Safa Kadal, and Rainawari, and the Parimpora locality of the upper city, were placed under undeclared curfew, as was the Baramulla town in north Kashmir.
Clashes between protestors and government forces were reported from the uptown Rambagh and Hyderpora areas, even as a large number of people held pro-freedom demonstrations in Natipora, Machoo, Kralpora, Nagam, Chadoora and adjacent localities.
Some of these areas witnessed violence as stone-pelting on forces vehicles invited severe tear gas shelling, leading to prolonged intermitted clashes.
In Rambagh, brick-batting broke out as the police and the CRPF chased away protesting crowds which had burned tyres to block the streets.
Locals in Hyderpora alleged that government forces had burst into homes and smashed doors and windows besides beating up inmates while breaking up violent crowds in the streets.
Angry protests broke out in Rainawari after government forces personnel severely thrashed a local civilian, Gulzar Ashraf, leaving him with seriously injured limbs.
Local crowds carried the victim first to the Rainawari hospital where doctors referred him to the SKIMS which sent him to the Bone and Joint Hospital in Barzulla because of severe injuries to his arms.
The Khanyar area too witnessed protests after an elderly man, Abdul Hameed, was arrested, but sustained demonstrations compelled the police to let him go, after which more forces were sent in to kept the tense locality under control.
Hundreds of people held peaceful demonstrations infront of a local school in Kanipora, Budgam to demand the release of a 13-year-old boy, Sajid Ahmad, who had been arrested earlier.
In Baramulla, groups of youth targeted the CRPF and the police personnel deployed near the bus stand, but the forces were reported to have chased away the violent crowds without inflicting casualties.
Businesses, offices and educational institutions in the town remained closed and public transport stayed off the roads.
Elders in the sister township of Sopore were learnt to have gone around appealing for calm and abstention from stone-pelting in view of the fataha khwani of noted religious and spiritual figure, Ahmad Sahib, whose memorial service was attended by a large number of people.
The Hurriyat (G) call paralyzed life in south Kashmir towns as well, even as the Bandipur area in the north was reported to have witnessed business and traffic activity.
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