Injured youth dies in Kashmir, toll rises to 109

SRINAGAR - Thousands of people early Saturday joined the funeral procession of a youth, who died here of his injuries sustained in firing by security forces a fortnight back, taking the toll in the Kashmir Valley unrest to 109.

Umar Sulaiman Sheikh was injured in firing by security forces in north Kashmir Puthkha village Sep 16 and was admitted to the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura here. Doctors tried their best to revive him but he died in the morning.

Thousands of people shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans joined Umar’s funeral. He was later laid to rest in a graveyard in Puthkha in north Kashmir Baramulla district.

Tension gripped the village as people thronged Umar’s house as his the body reached there in the morning. At least four youth were killed and several wounded in firing by security forces on the Srinagar-Baramulla national highway Sep 16.

Authorities, meanwhile, lifted curfew from capital Srinagar and other towns in the valley Saturday.

Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani, who is spearheading the anti-India unrest in Kashmir, had asked people to resume their normal business for a day Saturday.

Shops were open and vehicles plied normally. The government also lifted the curfew for the day in the city and elsewhere in other towns of the Kashmir Valley.