Srinagar: A teenage boy's killing on Friday in the outskirts of Srinagar has further fuelled tensions in Kashmir where the continuing cycle of deaths has brought despair and interrupted life for months.
Momin Altaf Ganai, a 15-year-old, was hit by pellets fired by security forces at Theed-Harwan, 20 km from the centre of the city after protests raged in the area for hours. His body was kept in the locality square through the night as incensed residents protested till morning raising anti-India slogans.
Ganai's funeral was attended by thousands, and as his body was taken for burial, hundreds of security men in riot gear moved into the area. Police and paramilitary forces fired smoke shells and wielded batons to break up street demonstrations in some neighbouring areas.
With Ganai's death, the toll in the current 10-week unrest - triggered by the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8 - has risen to 85. Close to 12,000 people, including 4,000 security men have been wounded in the clashes over the last 71 days.
The teenager's death has once again brought the focus back on the efficacy of shot or pellet guns in crowd control. Though Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said pellet guns would be replaced by PAVA shells, on the ground, police have not stopped firing pellets and the casualties are growing.
Meanwhile, curfew and restrictions remain clamped across many areas of Srinagar and South Kashmir. Schools, colleges, offices, traffic and business outlets remain shut and the economy has taken a huge hit.
Apples packed in cartons are rotting in many South Kashmir villages as vehicles have been off roads since the current spell of unrest. Hotels, boathouses and shikaras - which would have been otherwise be packed with tourists by this time - are empty and incurring huge losses. Thousands associated with the tourism and protocol industries have lost jobs.
The internet ban - imposed by the government a day before Eid - continues for the sixth straight day, further accentuating losses. Mobile call services, barring BSNL, too remain suspended. Late Thursday night, police locked up Khurram Parvez, a known human rights activist but admitted they have not pressed charges against his 'preventive detention'.
Parvez, programme coordinator of Jammu and Kashmir coalition of civil society (JKCCS) was picked up from his home and detained in Kothibagh police station. ''He has been detained without formal arrest or notification and in violation of his rights to information, and legal counsel. He has not been provided with any written document, court order or the reasons for his detention, a JKCCS statement said.
Elsewhere in the valley, situation continues to be tense with heavy deployment of police, paramilitary and army. The army had moved an additional brigade size unit, roughly 3000 men, to South Kashmir to replenish the security grid.
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