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Kashmir: 2 policemen hurt in clash with JKLF men

Last updated on: February 11, 2011 15:28 IST

Two policemen were injured when Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front supporters clashed with security men in Lal Chowk area of the city after Friday prayers demanding handing over of mortal remains of JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat.

The youths started raising slogans after prayers at Maisuma, which houses the headquarters of JKLF.

They were demanding return of mortal remains of Bhat who was sent to the gallows on February 11, 1984 for the murder of a CID inspector and buried in Tihar prisons complex, officials said.

The police personnel posted on duty in the area used batons to disperse the youths who indulged in stone pelting, they said

Constables Abdul Haid and Ghulam Qadir suffered head injuries in the stone pelting and were taken to police hospital for treatment.

Additional forces were rushed to the area and the protesters were chased away, the officials said.

Earlier, a separatist-sponsored strike affected normal life in the Kashmir Valley on Friday.

The strike called by the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani shut shops, businesses and public transport in capital Srinagar and other towns.

However, skeletal private transport was plying in capital Srinagar.

With PTI inputs

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar