SRINAGAR: Authorities clamped a curfew across most of Indian-occupied Kashmir for the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramazan on Sunday and partially cut telephone services to thwart protests over the killing of a top commander.
The lockdown in the mainly Muslim region crippled life on the first day of the Muslim holy month after widespread violence on Saturday over the killing of Sabzar Ahmad Bhat in a gunfight with government forces.
Government forces in riot gear erected barricades in the main city, Srinagar, and other towns in southern Kashmir to prevent people from reaching the commander’s funeral.
But thousands of mourners defied the security curbs Sunday to attend the burial of the commander in his hometown amid anti-India and pro-Independence slogans.
Srinagar’s central mosque remained shut and devotees were barred from offering prayers on the first day of the Ramazan fasting month.
“Restrictions have been put in place in some areas to maintain law and order,” police chief Shesh Pal Vaid told AFP.
Bhat, head of the Hizbul Mujahideen group, and a 16-year-old associate were killed in a gunfight near his native village in Tral area. A protester was shot dead by troops during clashes as hundreds of villagers tried to break the security cordon to help the fighters to escape. Clashes spread to other districts, leaving dozens injured.
Last year nearly 100 protesters were killed after Burhan Wani was killed, triggering months of anti-India protests. Bhat took over as the leader.
“Forces have blocked all roads to restrict people to their areas,” Bashir Ahmad, a resident of Pulwama told AFP, a neighbouring district of Tral.
Authorities snapped internet mobile services and calling services Saturday just hours after a month-long ban on 22 social media sites like Facebook and Twitter ended.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the Kashmir valley, where most people favour independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, with both nations claiming it in its entirety.
An armed fight broke out in 1989 that later weakened. But over the last year there has been an upsurge in protests against Indian occupation.
Several armed groups are fighting Indian forces. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the nearly three decade-old conflict.
Pakistan has strongly condemned the killing of Kashmiri youth by the Indian forces.
Highlighting the gravity of the situation, Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz on Saturday urged the international community, particularly the UN, OIC, P-5 Members and human rights organizations, to call upon India to immediately stop the ruthless killing of defenseless Kashmiris in the valley.
“These brutalities are also being increasingly criticized in many parliaments around the world,” he said, and added New Delhi has been heightening tension at the LoC to hide these crimes against the innocent Kashmiris being perpetrated with impunity.
