75 detained in South Kashmir ahead of voting

Man shot at in Tral, Sec 144 imposed in Shopian

Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, May 2: In a major crackdown against suspected stone pelters in South Kashmir ahead of third phase of the polling in Anantnag Parliamentary constituency, security forces have picked up around 75 people and district administration has imposed curbs on the assembly of people.
Security forces conducted nocturnal raids in Rajpora Assembly segment of constituency in Pulwama district and picked up 20 youths from two villages. Five youth were detained from Naira and 15 from Tahab villages of Rajpora area.
Security forces also conducted nocturnal raids in Shopian villages and detained 22 youth. Ten youth were held from Nadigam, eight from DK Pora, three from Vehil and three from Narwav villages of the district.
Sources said that these nocturnal raids will continue till all the suspected persons are detained ahead of vote in Shopian and Pulwama districts on May 6. Security forces also conducted raids in Murran, Karimabad, Gudoora, Kangan, Parigam, Rahmoo and Payar villages of Pulwama district a night before and detained around 30 youth accused of stone pelting.
Security in the twin districts of Shopian and Pulwama has been intensified ahead of vote. Additional 300 companies of para-military Central forces along with the police has been deployed in the twin districts to ensure incident free vote.
All the polling stations in the district have been declared as hypersensitive and large numbers of them have been shifted out of the sensitive areas for the security of the poll staff and voters.
Multi-layer security is being deployed in the two districts and army will senitise the areas in the districts for giving sense of safety to voters and poll staff.
The District Magistrate Shopian today promulgated Section 144 of CrPC in the district from tomorrow for a period of one month for security reasons.
According to the order, no assembly or congregation shall be allowed without the prior permission of District Magistrate, Shopian, Duty Magistrates subject to prior NoC from the concerned SP/SHOs of respective jurisdiction. “Furthermore, no person other than a member of armed force/ Police/ Magistrate or a public servant duly authorized and on duty shall carry in public fire arms or an article capable of being used as weapon of offence”, read the order.
The order further read that no person shall use loudspeaker or any other amplifying sound for making a speech or any announcement for any other purpose whether from a moving vehicles or otherwise except with prior permission of District Magistrate, Shopian.
“However, the restriction imposed on movement of people/congregations/ assembly of people shall not apply to holding of prayers in mosques and other places of worship or burial rites/ ceremonies. In case of area notified for application of restrictions under Section 144 CrPC, the Duty Magistrates should be approached in order to prevent misconception about such occasions/ceremonies by law enforcement agencies”, the order said.
“The Senior Superintendent of Police Shopian shall enforce the restrictions by making adequate deployments, wherever required”, the order read.
Meanwhile, a man was injured after he was shot at by militants at Kachmulla village of Tral in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district this evening.
Gunmen fired upon Abdul Rashid resident of Kachmulla village of Tral area injuring him critically. He was previously associated with BJP. He was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Soon after the incident, a joint team of Army and SOG launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area to nab the assailants responsible for the attack.

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