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One killed in J&K firing

A person was killed and five others were wounded when security forces opened fire in Maisuma on Friday morning, prompting the administration to impose curfew in the Civil Line area.

A demonstration against the killing of four civilians, including two women, was held in the city areas in the morning. Residents, mostly youths, came out on the streets, shouting pro-freedom and anti-government slogans.

The police claimed they indulged in stone-pelting at Maisuma, Mehraj Bazzar, Basant Bagh, Nowhatta, Bohri Kadal, Soura, Hawal and other areas.

At Maisuma, youths marched to the city centre and indulged in stone-pelting on cops and passing vehicles. A passing security force vehicle opened fire on the protestors, seriously injuring 16-year-old Javed Ahmad Nath and five others.

They were immediately shifted to hospital, where Javed succumbed to his injuries.

Hundreds of people, including women and children, came out on the streets in Maisuma, defying curfew restrictions as the body of Nath was brought home.

Paramilitary forces and the police were later deployed in the area.

Residents in other uptown and downtown city localities also demonstrated against the killings on Thursday.

Police used batons and fired warning shots to chase away the protestors. Nearly 15,000 villagers assembled on Friday afternoon, where soldiers killed four civilians, including two women, in the firing on Thursday afternoon. They shouted pro-freedom slogans and reached Hygam in buses and trucks, while some came on foot.

Senior Kashmiri separatist leaders, who addressed the gathering, condemned the killing of four villagers and a local pharmacist.

The villagers were protesting against the alleged custodial killing of pharmacist Jaleel Ahmed Shah. The villagers say that Shah was picked up by the Special Operations Group of the state police on Wednesday and later killed in custody. A senior police officer said that Jaleel, who was a militant, had attacked the SOG in a nearby jungle and was killed in the ensuing gun-battle.

Major north Kashmir towns were also rocked by violence. Scores of people, including cops, received injuries in stone-pelting and tear-gassing and baton charges in Baramulla town. The district authorities had a difficult time controlling mobs protesting against Thursday's shooting on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway.

Sources said the mobs regrouped in Barramulla town and hurled stones on the police. Demonstrators marched up to the United Nations office in the main town.

Following Friday's massive protests and anger in the Valley, the Jammu and Kashmir Government upgraded the level of a judicial probe into the Hygam firing. Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah announced in the assembly that high court judge Justice O P Sharma will look into circumstances leading to the killing of five civilians on Thursday at Hygam.

"The government has decided to upgrade the probe and the report will be placed in the legislature."

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, who had announced a unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir, which comes for review next week, spoke to Abdullah over the telephone and expressed anguish over the incident. "I told Vajpyee that the people of Kashmir were caught in such a situation where it is beyond their comprehension as to who were the killers."

The prime minister has asked for a detailed report, Abdullah said. "I will plead with him for severest punishment to the killers, once they are identified by the probe."

The Kashmiri separatist conglomerate -- All Parties Hurriyat Conference -- had called for a strike on Friday. All shops and business establishments were closed. Traffic was off the roads in Srinagar and other towns.

The APHC has called for a strike on Saturday.

The Kashmir ceasefire: The complete coverage

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