Strict Curfew, Protest Shutdown paralyse life across Valley for 42 consecutive days

  • Commuters allege harassment by traffic cops on Srinagar roads
  • Grenade hurled at house of former Shopian legislator
  • Ban Ki Moon condemns civilian killings in Kashmir

Strict Curfew, Protest Shutdown paralyse life across Valley for 42 consecutive daysA strict curfew and protest shutdown called by the joint resistance leadership crippled life in Kashmir on the 42nd straight day on Friday.
66 people have died in the unrest that began on the day charismatic Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with government forces on July 08.
Last night, an ambulance driver was shot at by the government forces in downtown Srinagar while he was ferrying patients from Kangan in Ganderbal district.
The resistance leadership has asked people to march towards Aripanthan village in Budgam district where four civilian were killed in alleged unprovoked firing by the paramilitary forces on August 15.
Top separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are under house arrest while Yasin Malik is lodged in central jail.

Meanwhile, commuters on Friday alleged that traffic cops, which have made a surprising appearance on otherwise deserted roads, were harassing in the name of checking of documents.
Despite the 24-hour curfew in Srinagar, traffic cops have erected nakas at various places across the city – a move that surprised the commuters.
A Kashmir Post staffer said that he was stopped by traffic police every two kilometers on his way to office in Lal Chowk from Lal Bazar.
“And if by chance he (cop) finds any document missing, he files challan. Despite having all documents, the cop made me to wait for ten minutes. This is sheer harassment,” he said.
On the deserted roads in civil lines too, some senior officials of the traffic police checked the documents of commuters amid thin vehicular movement, evoking criticism from the commuters.

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned the killings of Kashmiri protesters by Indian forces in Kashmir, a media report said. The News International reported that Moon has replied to a letter of the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which had asked him to take notice of the killings of civilians in Kashmir.
“In his letter, he called for India and Pakistan to solve the problem of Kashmir jointly and offered cooperation in that regard,” the report said. “India and Pakistan should solve the conflict of Kashmir together. The United Nations is ready to offer its services for that to happen,” Ban wrote in his letter.
Ban Ki-moon also expressed the hope that efforts would be made to stem violence against Kashmiris in Kashmir.
It said that Moon appreciated Pakistan’s role for maintaining peace in the region as well as the country’s efforts to solve the issue of Kashmir in a peaceful manner. “Ban Ki-moon said that resolution of the issue of Kashmir was imperative for regional peace,” the report said. He expressed the desire to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the upcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting, it added.

A grenade was hurled at the house of National Conference leader and former MLA Shopian Muhammad Rafiq Sheikh last night. Reports said that the grenade was lobbed at Sheikh’s house in Kachdoora village of Shopian in south Kashmir at around 10 pm.
However, it exploded in the lawn. There was no report of any casualties.

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