18-year-old tailor shot dead during protests in Kashmir

Srinagar, Jul 21: Army shot dead an 18-year-old tailor while dealing with protestors in Beerwah area of central Kashmir'sBudgam district on Friday.

While the army claims it opened fire after some stone-pelters tried to snatch weapons from the soldiers, police gave a different version while the locals belied both the versions.

"An army patrol was subjected to heavy stone pelting by a mob in Kundar village of Beerwah at 1:15 pm. Some stone pelters tried to close in with the (army) patrol to snatch weapons from the soldiers. Two persons were injured when troops opened fire and one of them later succumbed to his injuries," PRO defence Col Rajesh Kalia said in a statement.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Muneer Khan said a miscreant hurled a firecracker at soldiers already battling a stone throwing mob. "The soldiers mistook the firecracker for a grenade and fired in the direction from where from it had been thrown," he said.

However, the locals belied both the versions saying army opened fire on youth without any provocations. "An army patrol started beating up some youth in the area without any provcation. When they tried to resist, the army opened fire on them. The slain youth was hit by a bullet on his head," Mohammad Ashraf, an eyewitness told DH over phone.

He said soon after the incident thousands of people, including women and children, marched with the body of the slain youth Tanveer Ahmad, shouting anti-India slogans. While men raised slogans for Kashmir’s freedom, women sang eulogies: "Qoam ay Bahaduro, Karyo goor gooro (Bravehearts of the nation, let me sing you a lullaby)."

Police registered a case against Rashtriya Rifles unit in connection with the killing of Tanveer. The incident took place 38 km from Srinagar where authorities had imposed strict restrictions to thwart a march to local UN office. The call for protests was given by separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik to protest against the recent civilian killings in security forces’ action. They had also Joint called for a shutdown and a sit-in outside the local office of UN in Srinagar.

All the roads leading to the UN office in Snowar were sealed, while security forces had been deployed in strength at sensitive places across the Valley to avoid any untoward incident. The intra-Kashmir train services between Banihal and Baramulla were suspended on Friday “as a precautionary measure” while authorities disallowed congregational Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid in old city Srinagar for the fifth consecutive week.

All gates of Jamia Masjid were locked by security forces while all roads leading to the historic masjid were blocked with concertina wires. Mirwaiz Umar, who addresses the faithful every Friday was kept under house detention.

However, the movement of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims and tourists were unaffected by the shutdown call.