Protest on in Srinagar. Tribune photo: Amin War

Ehsan Fazili

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 6

At least 40 people, including seven women, were injured in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in Anantnag town of south Kashmir on Saturday, as curfew continued in many parts of the Valley and normal life remained paralysed for the 29th consecutive day.

The fresh clashes broke out at Chee village on the outskirts of the town, where a protest rally was being organised as part of the ongoing protests against the civilian killings in Kashmir.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The police and CRPF personnel removed ‘shamiyana’ and beat up the organisers to prevent them from holding the rally, locals alleged. The police resorted to lathicharge, lobbed teargas shells and opened fire in the air to disperse the protesters, which led to injuries to at least 40 civilians.

The major towns of south Kashmir—Anantnag, Kulgam, Awantipora and Pampore—are under curfew, while restrictions are enforced elsewhere in the area, the police said.A day after the post-Friday clashes that led to the death of at least three people and injuries to over 300 others across the Valley, curfew has been extended to four major towns of Budgam district—Chadoora, Khan Saheb, Magam and Budgam. Two people—Mohammad Maqbool in Chadoora and Zahoor Ahmad in Khan Saheb areas— were killed in the clashes on Friday.Curfew was also imposed in parts of Sopore town of Baramulla district, where a youth, Danish Rasool, was killed and over 50 others got injured in the clashes between protesters and police on Friday afternoon.Curfew was also enforced at Khanpora locality of Baramulla town. Restrictions are in force in other areas of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipore districts of north Kashmir.In Srinagar, areas under five police stations in downtown and Batamaloo continue to remain under curfew. Restrictions are also in place in other areas of the district.

When will PM ‘wake up to crisis’ in Kashmir: Omar

Srinagar, August 6

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on the situation in the Valley, which he termed as “heart-breaking” and “worrying”.“Heart breaking & worrying in equal measure. At what point will the Centre (read Hon PM) wake up to the crisis here?” Omar wrote on Twitter on Friday night.He was reacting to the death of three people as security forces tried to quell violent protests on Friday.The opposition National Conference working president had on Friday hit out at the Centre for claiming that the situation in the Valley was improving.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) “1 more unfortunate death, countless injuries today & the Centre tells the Hon SC (Supreme Court) that ‘things are improving’. Wow!” Omar wrote.In another tweet, Omar said it was only the ruling coalition partners–PDP and BJP–who agreed with this stand.“Seriously? By which stretch of imagination? I haven’t met anyone in the Valley except the BJP-PDP ostriches who agree!” he said.The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that the law and order situation in Kashmir Valley had improved considerably since the outbreak of violence following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.It said the violent protests had gone down from 201 on July 9 to 11 on August 3. With Friday’s deaths, the toll in the violence in the Valley has now reached 54. PTI