By Sheikh Imran Bashir, AIP,
Srinagar: Once again Paramilitary forces (CRPF) open fire in already tense Kashmir Tuesday morning on a group of mourners killing a youth and wounding several.
Massive protests erupted in Tengpora Bypass in Batamaloo area here after the body of a local teenager was fished out from the Gangbugh Nalla around 11:45 PM on Monday night. Locals said 17-year-old Muzaffar Ahmad Bhat son of Ghulam Mohammad Bhat of Tengpora was beaten to death by CRPF troops around 8:30 p.m and then thrown into the stream.
Eyewitnesses told Agence India Press that CRPF opened fire in Batmaloo locality on a group of protesters agitating against the killing of another youth the previous night. They said the youth, Muzaffar Ahmad, was fleeing to evade arrest by CRPF last night when he slipped into a stream and drowned.
Just hours after locals in Tengpora area of Srinagar city claimed that 17-year-old Muzzaffar Ahmad Bhat was beaten to death and then thrown in to a stream in the area by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), another teenager Fayaz Ahmad was killed Tuesday morning when CRPF fired at people participating in the funeral prayers of Muzzaffar.
Large number of people gathered near Muzaffar’s residence this morning to mourn his death. Upon seeing a contingent of CRPF approaching they began chanting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans.
Some of the youngmen began pelting them with stones, they said. CRPF forces opened fire killing Fayaz Ahmad Wani, father of a two year old baby. Fayaz was hit by a bullet in the neck resulting in his on the spot death.
A top police officer told Agence India Press that one stone hit CRPF personnel and then CRPF personnel open fire on them, but CRPF has denied this.
Muzaffar Bhat’s family and locals in the area said he had jumped into the stream Monday when as paramilitary Central Reserve Police Forces personnel were chasing a group of demonstrators protesting against the visit of Minister of State for Housing Nasir Aslam Wani to the area.
The latest deaths led to fresh tension in Srinagar that has been under strict curfew after a fresh wave of violent protests rocked the Kashmir Valley last month. Eleven people, mostly teenagers, were killed in firing by security forces.
Authorities have moved fresh reinforcements to many places in Srinagar sensing that the killing will ignite fresh protests.
Srinagar is tense after the death of two young men in the last 24 hours.
As soon as the news of two youth’s death, spread in the city, shopkeepers downed their shutters and normal life came to an abrupt halt.
Meanwhile, curfew continues in the south Kashmir towns of Anantnag, Kakpora and Pulwama.