Kashmir’s unified headquarters meeting cancelled

SRINAGAR - The scheduled unified headquarters meeting was cancelled here Friday evening amid speculations that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was unhappy over the deaths of four civilians during protests in north Kashmir.

“I can only confirm that the scheduled meeting of the unified headquarters has been cancelled,” a senior police officer said here.

A close aide of the chief minister declined to comment on the rumour that Omar decided not to attend the meeting as a mark of protest against the deaths in firings, while other aides maintained that the meeting was cancelled “because there was no agenda for today’s (Friday’s) meeting”.

Apart from the four deaths, more than 47 people including 30 security men and protesters were injured in violence in the Valley Friday.

“Nine injured people were admitted in our hospital today (Friday) with bullet injuries, two of them in critical condition,” said a doctor at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences at Soura here.

Doctors at the SMHS hospital in Srinagar city said eight injured had been admitted there, some of them with bullet wounds.