Curfew relaxed in Srinagar

As the six-hour relaxation period passed off relatively peacefully, the Jammu and Kashmir administration extended the relaxation in Srinagar by three more hours till 1700 pm on Wednesday, official sources said.

   
The administration extended the relaxation period in the curfew by three more hours as the first six-hour period passed off peacefully with no major untoward incident reported from anywhere in the city.

   
Curfew was relaxed from 0800 hours to 1100 hours initially and later extended to 1400 to allow the people to buy essential items as the valley has remained shut for almost six days owing to strikes called by separatists and curfew imposed by the authorities.

People were seen buying essential items like vegetables, grains and medicines.

In major parts of the city, people took to the streets during the relaxation period and staged peaceful demonstrations against the killings during the past two days and the economic blockade of the valley.

   
Police had to fire warning shots at several places including Bemina, Safakadal, Fatehkadal and Rainawari to disperse protesters who turned violent and resorted to stone-pelting,

There was no report of any casualties but one person was injured in firing by Central Reserve Police Force personnel at Bemina where a mob torched the office of Srinagar Development authority, sources said.

   
Stone-pelting incidents were also reported from Nishat, Jamalatta, Batmaloo, Rambagh, Natipora, Bagh-e-Mehtab, Karan Nagar and Lawaypora in Srinagar. An oil tanker was torched by a group of people at Tengpora on Bypass road, sources said.

   
Protestors also razed an abandoned security bunker on the roadside at Karan Nagar in the city, they said.

Authorities had clamped curfew in all 10 districts of Kashmir valley for the first time in 13 years after the protests in the tense region spread. The escalating violence has left 21 people dead in firing by security forces during the past two days.