Adil Lateef
Srinagar, May 15: Three persons including a senior police officer were injured as students clashed with police in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir today.
Dozens of students of Sri Pratap College here at Maulana Azad Road boycotted their classes and staged protests. The students tried to march towards Lal Chowk but policemen, who were deployed additionally on Maulana Azad Road, did not allow them to come out of college premises after which students pelted stones on cops.
Police retaliated to stone-pelting by lobbing tear and pepper gas shells on students, ensuing clashes between the both sides. The clashes continued for several hours and resulted in disruption of an exam that was being conducted in neighbouring Sri Pratap Higher Secondary School (SPHSS) that was already off for the teaching work.
The students engaged the police in pitched battle and gave cops a tough time by resorting to intense stone-pelting despite teargas shelling inside SP College campus by the latter. During clashes, a police Sub-Inspector, Suhail Ahmad, who is also Station House Officer (SHO) of Kralkhud police station, sustained grievous forehead injury after being hit by a stone. He was shifted to hospital where he received six stitches. Another policeman was also injured.
The students later entered Women College premises and pelted stones on cops deployed outside the College, resulting in chaos in Regal Chowk. Police had to use teargas shells once more and after around an hour, the students dispersed at their own. Police said the students in Sekkidafar area of Safakadal resorted to minor stone-pelting on a local Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp and dispersed on their own.
Heavy stone-throwing clashes erupted at Magam in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district after students from a local Government Higher Secondary School hit streets and staged protests against the State. The students rallied on Srinagar-Gulmarg Road, resulting in traffic standstill. Police swung into action and resorted to teargas shelling. Students retaliated by stone-throwing.
Witnesses said a student was hurt in clashes at Magam while police detained another. The clashes in the area continued for several hours and prompted shopkeepers to down their shutters. To contain the further protests, additional personnel of police were deployed in the area. The situation, however, normalized in late hours of the day. Students in Handwara area of the Kupwara district also held a protest but there was no violence.
The fresh protests and clashes in Kashmir erupted just a day after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti asked children not to meddle in the big issues and instead leave them to their elders. Earlier, Education Minister Syed Altaf Bukhari also repeatedly appealed students to return to classrooms and not to resort to stone-pelting but so far the Government has not succeeded in scuttling student protests which erupted last month from Pulwama Degree College after police raid.
According to the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, class work in SP Higher Secondary School shall remain suspended on May 16, 2017 (Tuesday) as a “precautionary measure”. The Deputy Commissioner, Budgam, said the class work will remain suspended at Government Degree College Magam and Boys Higher Secondary School Magam tomorrow.
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