10 Killed On 3rd Day Of Fresh Violence In Kashmir.

m.today

Srinagar,August 02:   Violence in Kashmir valley escalated further on Sunday  when ten persons including a woman were killed in separate incidents with four of them perishing in a blast after explosives went off in a police station set afire by a mob. With the ten deaths, the number of people killed in the fresh wave of violence since Friday has risen to 15. 

In New Delhi, the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) met tonight for the second time under a month to take stock of the situation in Kashmir valley. 

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister appealed for calm and asked political parties and leaders to cooperate with the Government to bring back peace in the state. He vowed to deal sternly with law breakers and the perpetrators of violence, asserting that he will not allow them "to win". 

Four civilians were killed and 35 others injured when a mob set afire tonight to a police  station, where explosives were stored, triggering a massive  blast in Khrew area on outskirts of Srinagar city, police said. 

A mob had laid siege to the police station, 20 kms from here, and started pelting stones after which additional forces were rushed to the area who rescued the police  personnel in the police station. 

Police said a loud explosion took place as the protesters set afire the abandoned police station, where some explosive materials besides a cooking gas cylinder were also kept. Four civilians were killed and 25 others injured in the explosion, they said. 

In Khrew earlier in the day, protesters attempted to set afire a police post and take away the weapons. As the crowd refused to calm down, police fired at them leading to the death of a woman identified as Afrosa. Barring Handwara, Baramulla town, Budgam, Awanitipora and Ganderbal, curfew remained in force in rest of the Valley for the second day.

In other incidents, two persons  were killed as police opened fire to disperse mobs who blocked a national highway on the city outskirts.

The situation in saffron-rich area of Pampore turned ugly when agitators blocked NH-1A at a number of places by erecting barricades from Pantha Chowk to Pampore, a police spokesman said.

The mobs blocked the highway at Galandar, Kadlabal, Barsoo, Frastabal and Pampore and also torched office-cum- residence of a tehsildar. They set afire a police vehicle and damaged several others.

The protesters snatched weapons from local court guards and also indulged in heavy stone pelting on a police station and security personnel, the spokesman said, adding the situation turned worse when suspected terrorists fired on the personnel from amongst them.

After a baton charge and tear gas shelling failed to disperse the mobs, police opened fire to quell them. While Nayeem Ahmad Shah died on the spot, two others sustained injuries. 

A number of policemen including a Deputy Superintendent of Police of Awantiopora suffered injuries. Another person Raees also succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. 

 

CCS favours two-pronged approach to tackle Kashmir situation

New Delhi:  As Kashmir valley witnessed a fresh spurt in violence over the weekend, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) held an urgent meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence late on Sunday night to take stock of the situation.

Sources in the meeting, the CCS favoured a two-pronged approach to tackle the Kashmir situation:

* Omar Abdullah should visibly reach out politically to citizens
* A harder crackdown on trouble makers was also advocated

One view in the CCS is that there is no alternative to a harder crackdown - unless violence is controlled, situation cannot be brought back to normal. The other view favours a political approach.

This is the second time in less than a month that the CCS has met to discuss the situation in Kashmir. At least eight people were killed in the Valley on Sunday in separate incidents of violence.

During the meeting, reports of various intelligence agencies and views of the political parties were discussed and the inputs received from the Jammu and Kashmir government and the state Governor N N Vohra were analysed.

Besides the Prime Minister, others who attended the meeting were Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony and other senior bureaucrats from the Home and Defence ministries.

Curfew remained clamped in violence-hit Kashmir Valley as security forces maintained a close vigil on the situation, which continued to be tense.