Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 5: Massive clashes erupted in Old city area of Srinagar after a youth who was mysteriously found unconscious few days back succumbed at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, here last night.
Seventeen-year old Qaiser Ahmad Sofi of Shalimar area, who was on ventilator, succumbed last night here at SKIMS Soura, triggering massive protests in Eidgah and adjoining areas in Old City amid shutdown and curfew like restrictions.
Sofi said that he was found in an unconscious state a day after he went missing on October 27 last month. He was admitted at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar where he breathed his last.
The family alleged that he was poisoned and tortured at Shalimar area of Srinagar outskirts. But a police officer denied the allegation and said the he died after consuming poison.
A statement issued by police said: “A 17 years old Qaiser Hamid son of Abdul Hamid resident of Doodh Mohalla was reportedly missing from October 27, 2016 from his house. On the next day, his father received a call from a person who identified himself as a private guard working at the CIE complex, Shalimar stating that his son is lying near the CIE complex with some froth oozing from his mouth.
“On this information, a police party of police station Nishat along with the relatives of the deceased rushed to the spot and shifted him to SKIMS hospital for treatment. The doctors at SKIMS performed his stomach wash and sample was set to FSL for analysis to ascertain the nature of the poisonous substance he had consumed. As per the doctors the patient had a history of GTCS (epilepsy). Subsequently the boy succumbed yesterday evening.”
As soon as the news of Junaid’s death spread in Ganderpora area of Safa Kadal, his native locality, and adjoining areas, hundreds of people including youth and women assembled at his ancestral home early in the morning and protested. The body was taken to Eidgah graveyard for funeral amid massive sloganeering but the mourners were intercepted by police near Eidgah ground.
Police and CRPF fired teargas on mourners carrying body of Qaiser. Police also fired pellets on stone pelting protesters. However, he was buried in Eidgah cemetery.
After burial of Qaiser, hundreds of youth took to streets at Eidgah, Ganderpora and Sekidaffar and clashed with security forces. The clashes continued intermittently throughout the day in which around 40 protesters sustained injuries. The police statement said that after the burial of Qaiser, a mob of miscreants pelted stones upon forces including police deployment near Eidgah in which some police/security personnel were injured.
“While dealing with the situation some persons who were part of the stone pelting mob also got injured. They were shifted to hospital where their condition is said to stable,” the police said.
Authorities imposed curfew like restrictions in parts of Old City in morning. Elsewhere in five police stations of Srinagar including MR Gunj, Safa Kadal, Khanyar, Rainawari and Nowhatta, security forces were deployed but there were no restrictions on the movement of people.
Miscreants this morning made an attempt to set afire Government High School Khimber in Srinagar. The residents immediatly reached the spot and extinguished the fire which caused minor damage to the office of the school.
Elsewhere, shutdown was observed across Kashmir with shops, educational institutes, petrol pumps shut while public transport was off the roads. However, private transport was plying in civil line areas. Shops and other commercial establishments re-opened across the Srinagar after 4 pm and markets witnessed huge rush of people and there were traffic jams in Civil Lines area.
In Baramulla town of North Kashmir, some youth hurled 3 petrol bombs in Baramulla market to force shutdown. However, there was no damage.
A police spokesman said that in order to prevent any possible untoward incident disrupting normal life, an adequate security deployments were made in some vulnerable points of some towns and also in Srinagar city. “Situation across the Valley remained peaceful and under control although a stone pelting incident was reported from Eidgah,” he said.
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