One killed in fresh Kashmir clashes

SRINAGAR:

The death toll in clashes between angry residents and police in Indian Kashmir rose to four after another protester was killed on Wednesday.

Local police superintendent Aijaz Ahmed said a young man died of injuries sustained when a tear gas canister hit his head during the unrest in the frontier town of Kupwara.

It came a day after three people died when the Indian army fired into a crowd incensed by the alleged molestation of a girl by a soldier.

Authorities in the restive region had imposed a partial curfew after separatist leaders called for a general strike over Tuesday’s deaths of two civilian protesters and a woman working in a nearby field who was hit by a stray bullet.

The soldiers opened fire Tuesday when protesters stormed an army bunker and set it on fire in the northern town of Handwara protesting an alleged assault on a local girl by a soldier.

“We imposed restrictions in the old town of Srinagar and in Handwara to prevent violence,” said director general of police K Rajendra after groups of residents took to the streets of Handwara on Wednesday after the woman was buried.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th,  2016.