Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 29: Sixty seven youth were arrested for rioting and five vehicles were seized by police soon after the killing of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) top commander, Abu Qasim, in Kulgam district today.
SP Altaf Khan told Excelsior that 67 boys were arrested from Shopian town as they were asking local shopkeepers to observe shutdown against Qasim’s killing. They were carrying flags and resorted to rioting.
These youth were in five vehicles bearing registration numbers JK03D – 9516, JK03B – 6660, JK03C – 2159, JKI3A – 6353 and JK13C – 5270. “These vehicles were seized and will be confiscated”, the SP said.
Khan said the boys had come from Pulwama district and its adjoining areas and tried to disrupt the peace and law and order by pelting stones and raising anti-national slogans. “We have arrested them and seized their vehicles. They have been booked for rioting,” he said.
Thousands of people today attended the funeral of Qasim in Kulgam district and staged protests.
Soon after the police handed over the body of Qasim, a Pakistan resident, to local Auqaf Committee at Bugam in the district, thousands of people, including women and children, attended his funeral at Bugam Chowk and later at a local higher secondary’s ground.
Reports said that three militants, two local and one foreigner, who had come from neighbouring Pulwama district also attended the funeral of Abu Qasim and also fired some gunshots in air and later vanished taking advantage of the huge crowd.
After the funeral, the youth staged protests and clashed with security forces. A boy was injured in these clashes and he is under treatment at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences here at Soura. The boy has been reportedly hit by a teargas shell in his head.
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