Teenager killed in Kashmir, toll 61

SRINAGAR - Thousands of people defied curfew in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore town Friday morning after an 18-year-old succumbed to his injuries sustained in firing by security forces, taking the civilian toll since June 11 to 61, officials said.

Mudasir Nazir, 18, was killed and two people were hurt when Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers opened fire Thursday evening after a violent mob attacked their picket in Sopore town, about 50 km from here, police said.

According to reports, an assistant commandant of the CRPF was injured in the mob violence, which prompted the troopers to open fire.

Police said the CRPF troopers had fired rubber bullets at the mob in which the death of the teenager occurred.

Locals news channels here, however, said police in Sopore had decided to file a first information report (FIR) against the troopers involved in Thursday’s firing.

Sopore remained tense Friday morning as more than 6,000 people gathered in the town defying curfew restrictions. Authorities had imposed indefinite curfew there following Nazir’s death.

A senior police officer here said there would be no curfew or restrictions anywhere in the Kashmir Valley Friday except for Sopore and Baramulla towns.

The hardline separatist Hurriyat group headed by Syed Ali Geelani has, however, asked people to resume normal life for a day. Public transport plied normally while shops, businesses, banks, post offices and educational institutions here also opened up after four days.

The resumption of normal life Friday is part of Geelani’s resistance calendar, which his group has been announcing on a weekly basis. The resistance calendar is part of the hardline Hurriyat’s ‘Quit Kashmir’ campaign.

Geelani had told reporters Thursday that the resistance programme would continue till a plebiscite is held in Kashmir to determine the political future of the people here.