Srinagar: Curfew remained clamped in the violence-hit Kashmir Valley on Wednesday with security forces keeping a tight vigil to maintain law and order.
The restrictions continued for the sixth day in all the ten districts of the Valley which has witnessed a spurt in violence.
Stone-pelting mobs had on Tuesday defied curfew at many places in Srinagar, Budgam, Bandipora and Baramulla in north Kashmir and Awantipora and Kulgam in south Kashmir and attacked police personnel.
Five persons were killed and at least 20 policemen were injured on Tuesday in violent incidents which have so far claimed the lives of 28 people since Friday last.
Meanwhile, shoot-at-sight orders were announced through public address systems fitted in police vans in areas of Dal Gate on Tuesday, Residency Road and All India Radio Crossing in the city, police said.
Notwithstanding the curfew, people in some areas of old Srinagar city offered afternoon prayers on roads. Curfew remained in force in all the ten districts in the Valley.
Protests also spread to Jammu region’s Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts as people held anti-government demonstrations and blocked Jammu-Srinagar National Highway over deaths in firing by security forces in the Valley.
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2.Following violence, Railways suspend operations in Kashmir
JAMMU: The Indian Railways suspended its operations in the Kashmir Valley for an indefinite period after violent mobs burnt railway stations and targeted tracks in some towns, officials said on Wednesday.
The decision was taken after mobs burnt stations in Sopore and Budgam, besides harassing non-local employees, an official in the Northern Railways said.
The railways run a train service from south Kashmir’s Anantnag to Baramulla in the north.
More than 100 non-Kashmiri railway employees have moved out of the valley, fearing for their lives.
They have told their superiors that they cannot work in the valley because of the fast deteriorating situation there. The stone pelting mobs and their supporters raising anti-India slogans have taken control of all places, the official added.
Stone pelters have been torching public property, including railway and police stations, though it is not clear whether the property was targeted first or the protesters reacted to firing by the police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
"The railways have taken a serious note of the widespread violence in the valley. The authorities felt that the employees had strong reasons to feel unsafe and it was decided that the operations be suspended indefinitely in Kashmir," another railway official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.
"In the given situation, it’s impossible for us to run our operations in Kashmir," the official said. The railways would reassess the situation after the normalcy returns, the official added.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6255751.cms?prtpage=1
