Two more die in Kashmir, toll 59 (Second Lead)

SRINAGAR - A man hurt in a clash with security forces succumbed to his injuries here Tuesday, while a cyclist died after being knocked down by a paramilitary vehicle trying to escape a stone-pelting mob, taking the toll in the ongoing unrest in the Kashmir Valley to 59.

Muhammad Abbas Dhobi, 20, who was injured in clashes in Lazibal village of Anantnag district last week, died in a Srinagar hospital in the morning.

“The youth had sustained injuries in the stampede during clashes between unruly mobs and the security forces in Anantnag last week,” a police officer said here.

His body was handed over to relatives for burial. Locals in Anantnag allege the youth had been severely beaten up by security personnel.

While curfew was lifted in the Valley earlier in the day, it was re-imposed in south Kashmir Anantnag and Pulwama towns as tension gripped the region in the wake of Dhobi’s death.

Shops, educational institutions, banks, post offices and other businesses were immediately shut in the twin towns. Dozens of stone-pelting youth came out on the roads, engaging security forces in clashes.

An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Anantnag and Pulwama towns, a police official here said.

A retired police constable, meanwhile, died in Bemina outskirts of Srinagar city after being hit by a paramilitary vehicle, resulting in clashes in the area.

A paramilitary vehicle caught in the middle of a stone-pelting mob hit a cyclist while trying to drive out of the locality.

“Identified as a retired police constable, Muhammad Yusuf, died on the spot after being hit by a paramilitary vehicle in Bemina area,” a police official said.

Mobs again took to the streets, pelting stones at the passing traffic in Batmaloo area of the city, where the retired policeman lived.

Authorities had earlier Tuesday lifted curfew from Srinagar city and all other towns of the Valley following appeals by the hardline separatist group headed by Syed Ali Geelani, asking people to resume normal life for a day.

Shops opened early Tuesday and people thronged markets here. Traffic jams on the roads, however, gave a tough time to both the commuters and the traffic policemen.

Banks, post offices and educational institutions functioned normally as people busied themselves buying essentials of life to sustain them through another spell of curfew and shutdowns with the separatist calendar asking people to observe shutdowns and protests on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Anyone seeing the hustle and bustle in the markets here today would fail to trust his eyes given the highly volatile situation we have been passing through since the last two months now. This is the paradox of Kashmir that confuses even the most sane among the political analysts,” said Khwaja Nisar Hussain, a retired chief engineer here.

The Valley has been in the throes of a bloody public unrest since June 11 which has so far claimed 59 civilian lives, most of them in security force action as stone-pelting mobs clashed with security personnel.