Curfew continues for 11th day in Kashmir Valley; toll rises 46

Curfew and shutdown continued for 11th day in Kashmir on Tuesday, with one more woman injured in army firing on Monday at Qazigund succumbing to her injuries, taking the death toll in ongoing unrest to 46.

Reports said though the situation remained peaceful across the Valley, clashes erupted in the evening. Major parts of north and south Kashmir remained under curfew and shutdown on Tuesday but there was no major incident of violence till evening.

A least 46 people, mostly teens and young men, and two policemen have died since July 9 and more than 2,000 civilians and about 1,600 security personnel have been injured.

The mobile phone services and internet also remained shut while only BSNL postpaid and broadband are working. Authorities have already made it clear that the cellular services would be restored only after improvement in situation.

The separatist leaders including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik in a joint statement



called for observing July 20 as ‘Black Day’ by hoisting black flags over all the residential houses, commercial establishments and important landmarks. Meanwhile, newspaper owners in Kashmir refused to resume their publications on Tuesday, saying that the government guarantee that media operations are not hampered in future.

Newspaper owners and editors, who met here, said the government is yet to guarantee smooth media operations in the prevailing tense situation. On Saturday, a senior cabinet minister had asked the local newspaper owners to suspend their publications following unrest after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing.

The state government was widely criticised for censoring media and on Monday Amitabh Mattoo, advisor to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, said the decision to ban publication of newspapers in the Valley did not have the consent of the chief minister “and might have been taken at the local level for which heads will roll.”