By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar : Security personnel fired tear gas shells at students of the Valley when they tried to march to the house of Gowhar Nazir, the innocent youth who was killed by CRPF during the run up to PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the state.
The students of the slain youth’s college boycotted their classes for the second day and protested in the campus with play cards saying, “Take back your Rs 80,000 crore and bring back our Gowher”.
When the students, with girls leading the procession, started their peaceful march towards the home of the deceased student to express solidarity with the family, the security forces deployed there fired dozens of tear smoke shells to disperse the students.
“It was horrifying to see that how Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) troopers were firing tear gas shells on girls who were leading the peaceful procession. Some of my friends fainted and some suffered injuries in the melee. The male students, who were also in the march, ensured our safety. It was a horrible experience,” a girl student who wished to stay anonymous told TwoCircles.net.
Gowher Nazir Dar was a 22-year-old youth studying computer engineering in a valley based college, who was hit by tear gas shell which his family has contested to be a bullet in Zainakote area of Srinagar, on Saturday, Nov 7.
The family of the slain HMT youth denied that their son, Gowher Nazir, was killed by a tear smoke shell.
“Gowhar died when he was hit by a bullet, not by a tear gas shell as was reported. The doctor in the hospital had told us that the bullet is still inside his skull and he was shot on his left side of head. If one sees the photograph of his face, it becomes quite visible that his face is clear. In case he was hit by a tear shell, then it would have burnt his face which was not in this case,” said slain youth’s uncle Muhammad Yusuf Dar.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday registered an FIR against 44 Battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for killing a pedestrian instead of a stone-thrower.
“In the FIR, we have mentioned that Gowhar Nazir was a ‘Rahgeer’ (Pedestrian) and not a stone-thrower.Our preliminary investigation has so far revealed that at the time of Gowhar’s killing, the forces had withdrawn from the area half an hour before. Only JK Police was deployed in the area. The deployment was withdrawn at 4.45 pm and the incident took place at 5.35 pm,” a police official told a local Newspaper.
He further said that a column of CRPF had thereafter embarked from 44 Battalion CRPF and burst dozens of teargas shells in the area “without informing police. “They have done it unilaterally. No police was accompanying CRPF. The column has entered inside the Mohalla and lobbed teargas shells.” he added
Hurriyat veteran and Senior separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a condolence meeting in Zainakote, Srinagar in the memory of Gowhar Nazir Dar on Wednesday, November, 11.
Meanwhile, the college of slain youth where he was an engineering student on Thursday announced ‘Shaheed Gowhar Nazir’ scholarship, which will be given to an orphan student every year on the day of his killing.
Related:
Modi’s Kashmir visit: 22-year-old youth succumbs to tear gas shell shot by CRPF