Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Oct 18: The conductor, Zahid Ahmad, of a truck injured in a petrol bomb attack in Udhampur on October 9, succumbed to injuries at Safdurjung Hospital in Delhi this morning leading to protests in Kashmir valley.
Separatists and traders have called for strike tomorrow against his killings and government is imposing restrictions in parts of Srinagar city and other sensitive areas as a precautionary measure and examinations of Kashmir University and Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education (BOSE) have been postponed.
Zahid, who was admitted to the burns ward of Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi with 74 per cent burns, breathed his last at 11.30 a.m. after his condition worsened.
Zahid, a resident of Botengoo, Bijbehara in Anantnag district, was conductor of the truck that was on way to Kashmir when a mob attacked it with petrol bombs on October 9. The driver of the truck, Showkat Ahmad, was also injured and is admitted to Safdarjung hospital, Delhi.
The two along with a cleaner were sleeping inside the truck at the time of the incident. The cleaner, Rameez, escaped unhurt as he managed to jump out of the truck when mob first broke the front glass and threw patrol bomb inside.
The truck was stationed near Shiv Nagar area as traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was stopped in view of strike in Udhampur following recovery of three carcasses of animals in the district.
Body of Zahid was airlifted to Srinagar this afternoon. Member Parliament and PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti, along with Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Relief and Rehabilitation, Syed Basharat Bukhari and Minister for Finance and Culture, Haseeb Drabu, received the body at Srinagar Airport.
Thousands of people had gathered at his village in Bijbehara area of Anantnag when the body reached there. The last rites of Zahid will be conducted tomorrow morning.
Following the death of Zahid, clashes between protesters and security forces broke out in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district and in Srinagar.
Protesters threw stones at security forces and shouted slogans against the Government. A partial shutdown was also observed in the town, with the traffic movement coming to an abrupt stop on Srinagar-Jammu Highway as protesters blocked it.
Police and paramilitary forces fired dozens of tear smoke canisters and pepper gas shells to disperse the mourners who were gathering in the town to offer condolences with the family. Several protesters and a police constable was injured in the clashes.
Protests also broke out in Maisuma, Rajouri Kadal and Saraf Kadal areas of Srinagar city. Protesters pelted stones at police and they in return fired tear smoke to disperse them. The ding dong battles continued for several hours. Around 5 protesters were injured in clashes at these places.
Both factions of Hurriyat Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) have called for a shutdown tomorrow to protest the death of the truck conductor.
The chairmen of Hurriyat Conference and JKLF, Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, have appealed people to observe complete strike tomorrow to protest the incident.
Kashmir Transporters Welfare Association has called for complete wheel-Jam strike on Monday against killing of Zahid. General Secretary, KTWA, Sheikh Mohammad Yusuf said that emergency meeting of transporters was called in which it was decided all types of commercial vehicles including mini-bus, goods carrier, passenger vehicles will remain off roads.
The KTWA also urged all its constituent members to observe complete wheel-jam on Monday.
The Kashmir Economic Alliance president, Shoukat Choudhary called for shutdown tomorrow against the killing of Zahid. He demanded security for the truckers along the national highway.
The Government has decided to impose restrictions in Old City and Maisuma area of uptown as a precautionary measure. No traffic movement will be allowed in these areas. The security forces will be also deployed in the sensitive areas of the Valley to prevent violence.
Keeping in view of the strike called by separatists and traders and restrictions to be imposed in parts of Srinagar city, the Kashmir University and BOSE postponed the examinations.
An official spokesperson said today: “All Kashmir University examinations scheduled to be held on October 19 (Monday) are postponed.”
The BOSE spokesman said: “All the exams scheduled to be held on Monday have been postponed and fresh dates will be announced separately.”
The Government has also postponed the class eight examinations. “The 8th Standard exams have been postponed for tomorrow. Fresh dates will be announced later”, a spokesman said.
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