By IANS,
Srinagar : The Jammu and Kashmir government Wednesday ordered central paramilitary troopers to withdraw from the troubled Baramulla town, bordering Pakistan, where four youth were killed in firing allegedly by security forces this week.
Baramulla, on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, 50 km from here, is the first town in the Kashmir Valley where police will fully take charge of the law and order situation.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been pronouncing the policy of gradual removal of central forces in the valley but the move in Baramulla was expedited after the violent protests since Monday when a woman alleged harassment by police.
The chief minister Wednesday also chaired the Unified Command meeting and asked security and civil officials to draft a plan within 10 days for the gradual removal of central forces from the valley and hand over security and law and order duties to the state police.
Top civil, army, police and intelligence officials were present at the meeting of the Unified Command, which is the apex control and coordination grid of the security forces and intelligence agencies supervising security operations against militants in the troubled state.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram during his visit to the state last month had said the government was planning to withdraw troops from towns across the valley after a significant fall in terrorist violence.
However, protests have raged in the entire valley since last month. First in Shopian where two women, aged 17 and 22, were found dead May 30. Locals allege they were abducted, raped and killed by security forces.
After the Shopian incident that sparked valley-wide protests came the violence in Baramulla where a woman Monday alleged she was abused by cops in a police station. Police have, however, denied the allegations.
Four protesters were killed since Monday in firing allegedly by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Baramulla and neighbouring Sopore town, where with some relaxations curfew was on for the third day Wednesday.
Police have registered a case of murder against CRPF troopers reportedly involved in the firing.
Protests spilled over to Srinagar and left around half-a-dozen people injured. Demonstrations were also held in south Kashmir’s Anantnag and north Kashmir’s Bandipore districts.
An angry mob torched an army ambulance on a highway Wednesday at Palhalan on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway, 35 km from here, Wednesday afternoon. The armed occupants of the vehicle did not retaliate to avoid any civilian casualty.
Hundreds of protesters shouting slogans defied curfew and marched in Baramulla and Sopore, police said. In Sopore, protesters fought pitched battles with police who used batons and tear smoke shells to disperse the irate mobs.