Srinagar: Authorities on Monday lifted curfew from Sopore town and restriction on movement of people across Kashmir Valley but life continued to remain disrupted
due to a week-long shutdown called by the separatists.
The situation in Batmaloo in central Srinagar was, however, tense following death of a youth in a road mishap involving a police vehicle in the locality this morning.
Police said four persons travelling in a car were injured after being hit by a police vehicle. The injured were rushed to hospital, where one of them Nadeem Ahmad Mir of
Zainakote area succumbed to injuries.
After an hour of the mishap, people took to the streets and staged a demonstration. Police and paramilitary forces deployed in the area used batons to disperse them leading to a clash. The police fired teargas shells to disperse the stone-pelting protestors.
The clashes between the two sides were going on till noon, police said.
Police said curfew, which was imposed yesterday in Sopore town of north Kashmir, along with restrictions on the movement of the public under section 144 CrPC in rest of the Valley, including 12 police station areas of Srinagar, was lifted today.
However, life remained crippled in Srinagar and elsewhere in the Valley as shops and business markets, educational institutions, remained closed and transport off the roads, officials said.
The hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference led by jailed leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had given a call for a week-long shutdown to protest killing of several youths in the
past one month.
Meanwhile, the situation in Baramulla, 55 kms from here, continues to be tense following clashes in the wake of a controversy over a teenager`s death on Saturday.
The search for the body of the teenager, who drowned in river Jhelum on Saturday, was still on, they said.
Police maintained that the youth drowned in the river and denied allegations that he was chased by special operations group personnel and pushed into the river.
In Srinagar, government employees staged a demonstration on the old secretariat premises demanding action against those responsible for the death of youths during protests in Kashmir.
Police and paramilitary personnel prevented the employees from coming out of the old secretariat in the heart of the city where they assembled under the banner of the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC), police said.
PTI
