Following the tragic killing of a class 9 boy in CRPF firing, Kulgam continues to remain on boil with over 24 persons sustaining injuries in fresh clashes on Monday. Reports said the district shut on the third consecutive day as the townspeople mourned the death of Suhail Ahmed Lone who was shot dead by the paramilitary CRPF during an anti-Israel protest in the town on Saturday.
Reports said that whole Kulgam town observed a complete shutdown while youth clashed with the government forces at a number of places including Khudweni and Bogund.
Reports said that agitated protestors tried to attack the house of a police driver Shabir Ahmed at Bogund Kulgam who according to protestors had accompanied the CRPF at the time of killing incident at Khudweni on Saturday. Station House Officer Kulgam Irshad Ahmed said the police chased away the angry mob that was out to set ablaze the cop’s house.
Clashes between forces and protesters erupted in the area on Monday with the youth fighting pitched battles against the forces. Reports said fifteen persons including three forces personnel have been injured during the daylong clashes while as critically injured have been shifted to the Srinagar and other hospitals for the treatment.
Clashes were reported from Rahdwan, Khadwani and Koimoh areas where the youth took to streets and hurled stones at the forces deployment. The forces fired tear smoke shells to disperse the mob. Reports maintained further that the youth of various areas started marching towards the distrct authorities amid raising pro-freedom and anti-Israel slogans. The forces later interrupted them and tried to foil the protest march. Aghast by this action, protesters started fighting pitched battles with the forces and also tried to set ablaze the residential house of the local police personnel. Later, more than 10 persons were injured during the clashes that were later shifted to the nearby hospital for treatment.
Traffic on the highway that connects Kulgam with the summer capital remained suspended.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman stated that the situation in South Kashmir’s Kulgam area overall remained peaceful except some minor clashes reported at some places.
According to reports, shops and other business establishments were closed with the transport mainly off the roads. Government offices in the area also witnessed thin attendance with the people at large in this South Kashmir region preferred to stay indoors.
A class 9th student Suhail Ahmad Lone was shot at and killed on July 19 after forces opened fire at him. Reports informed that anti-Israel protests in the area were going on during which Suhail shot in the chest and succumbed at District Hospital in Anantnag. On Sunday, a youth was critically injured as he was hit by a tear-gas shell in his head. The youth was identified as Adil Muzzaffar. He was later shifted to district hospital where his condition is reportedly stable.
