Fourth day of indefinite curfew in Kashmir, toll 90

SRINAGAR - Indefinite curfew continued for the fourth day in all major towns of the Kashmir Valley while a young man shot by police here died in New Delhi, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest to 90.

Yaseer Hameed Sheikh, shot in Maisuma locality Aug 30 while playing carom with his friends on the road, passed away in New Delhi late Wednesday night. He was a cousin of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik.

“He had been shifted to Delhi for specialised treatment and died late yesterday (Wednesday) night,” a distraught family member of the youth said here.

Sheikh was allegedly shot without any provocation.

The constable who fired at Sheikh and other youths in Maisuma has been restrained to quarter guard duties and an enquiry ordered to establish the facts, police said.

Authorities imposed curfew in Maisuma Aug 30. With Sheikh’s death, the number of people who have lost their lives since June 11 in the valley has gone up to 90.

Another youth died Wednesday in firing by security forces when a mob torched the main office of the state-owned State Road Transport Corp in north Kashmir’s Sopore town, 52 km from Srinagar.

“Curfew continues in Srinagar, Sopore, Kupwara, Kralpora, Trehgam, Bandipora, Tangmarg, Ganderbal, Kangan, Budgam, Awantipora, Lethpora, Pampore, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Qoimoh, Anantnag and Bijbehara towns of the valley,” a senior police officer said here.

“The Jammu-Srinagar national highway is open for traffic and so is the Srinagar-Baramulla road,” he added.

Meanwhile, police said two gunmen riding a motorcycle without any number plate fired from a pistol at Khankah Ghat in Hajan town in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district Thursday but no one was hurt.