Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Oct 19: Two vehicles were torched and a bank was attacked today for defying the shutdown in Kashmir while police arrested 104 persons on charges of stone pelting and fomenting trouble in Kashmir.
Hundreds of Security force personnel were deployed in five police station areas of Srinagar’s Old City – MR Gunj, Nowhatta, Safa Kada, Rainawari and Khanyar – and Habba Kadal and Maisuma since early morning. However, the movement of the civilians and traffic was allowed in these areas.
In Civil Line areas of the Srinagar, extra-ordinary movement of private transport and pedestrians was witnessed since early morning but all shops, commercial establishments and educational institutes were closed. The vendors had, however, set upstalls at Batamaloo, Lal Chowk, Dalgate, Sonwar, Jehangir Chowk, Exhibition Crossing and Jawahar Nagar.
In the evening, the markets across Srinagar opened and large numbers of people poured into these markets including Lal Chowk.
A Scorpio vehicle bearing registration number JK01W-36 was damaged in a mysterious fire at Saderbal in Srinagar. Police said the vehicle was reportedly parked opposite Javaid Automobiles at Saderbal when it caught fire. Police has registered a case and cause of fire is being ascertained.
In another incident, some masked youths barged into Budshah Nagar branch of Jammu Kashmir Bank at Natipora area and damaged some articles inside for defying shutdown. Police said ‘miscreants’ damaged CCTV screen, LED, glass panes and other valuable items in the bank. “A case FIR number 182/2016 has been registered and miscreants involved in the incidents are being identified,” it said.
Reports from Malik Sahab locality of Safa Kadal in Old City said the police and SOG cordoned off the entire locality today to launch crackdown against stone-pelters. A police official said that no one was arrested. The crackdown created panic in entire area and several people were seen fleeing the locality.
Police said some ‘miscreants’ today set on fire a Scorpio vehicle bearing registration number JK15-1031 on National Highway at Delina ‘to disrupt the normal flow of traffic’. “An FIR has been lodged in Police station Baramulla and manhunt has been launched to nab the miscreants involved in the incident,” police said.
Clashes erupted in Pulwama villages to foil a protest march to Newa during which over one dozen protesters sustained injuries. Police fired teargas and pepper grenades to break up a pro-freedom march at Newa. In the ensuing clashes, at least 7 protesters sustained injuries.
Clashes broke out at Arihal village of Pulwama in which 10 protesters were injured as police fired teargas and pellets against stone-throwers. The protests were also reported from Kareemabad and Chewaykalan village of the district. Protesters pelted stones on some shops near Hospital Road Pulwama for defying shutdown. The clashes were also reported from Soibugh area of Budgam district.
A police spokesman said the day witnessed increased vehicular and pedestrian movement across the Srinagar city and most of the towns of the Valley. “Shops and business establishments, petrol pumps etc were open. A constant increase in the number of vendors on the streets of the towns was also noticed,” he said.
The spokesman said barring a couple of stray incidents of stone pelting, situation across the valley remained largely normal till filing of this report. “During the day transport plied normally on all routes and people were busy in their daily activities of life in the Valley,” he said.
Police said that in its drive to curb the activities of the ‘trouble mongers’ involved in various crimes of disrupting the public order in different parts of the Valley, police has arrested 104 such individuals during past 24 hours.
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