Rajnath arrives in Srinagar to ‘Take Stock of Situation’; Youth killed in Pulwama Clashes

A youth on Wednesday died in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on a day Union home minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Srinagar to review the situation.
With the death of the youth, the toll in the ongoing unrest in the Kashmir valley has climbed to 66.
“Aamir Bashir, who had pellet injuries in his chest, was brought to SMHS Hospital here but the doctors declared him brought dead,” a police official said.
He said the youth was a resident of Pohu village in Pulwama district where fresh clashes erupted between protesters and security forces on Wednesday morning.
Several other persons have sustained injuries in the clashes which were going on till last reports came in.
Besides the 66 dead, several thousand others have been injured in the clashes that began on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in Kokernag area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Rajnath Singh to hold talks with stakeholders
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said he will hold talks with various stakeholders in Kashmir and invited all those who believe in ‘Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat and Jamhooriyat’ as he arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit under Centre’s outreach in the valley.
Singh, who is accompanied by home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, will review the security situation in the Kashmir valley.
The Union minister arrived at Srinagar airport at 11.30am in a special plane.
“I will be staying at the Nehru Guest House. Those who believe in Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat and Jamhooriyat are welcome,” he tweeted before heading for Kashmir.
“Shall interact with civil society groups, political parties and other stakeholders,” Singh said in his tweets.
The minister’s visit to Kashmir comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with a delegation of opposition parties led by former state chief minister Omar Abdullah in the national capital on Monday.
Modi had expressed “deep concern and pain” over the situation there and had asked all political parties to work together to find a “permanent and lasting” solution to problems in Jammu and Kashmir.
This is the second visit of Singh in a month to the valley.

Some Kashmiri pandits hell-bent to add fuel to fire: Hindu priest
The head priest at Hindu Martand Temple in South Kashmir’s Mattan area of Anantnag district Wednesday refuted the news reports that temple has been attacked by stone-pleters saying “some hate-mongers especially from Kashmir Pandit community are hell-bent to add fuel to the fire.”
Pertinently, a video has gone viral on social media showing some youth pelting stones towards Martand Temple. “It is a doctored video. I must tell you Muslims in the area themselves protect this temple. Without verifying the authenticity of the video some Hindi news papers from outside State published this ‘fake’ news while some Pandits who claim to be the messiah of the community misinformed the country through social media,” the head priest Ashok Sodhi told Kashmir based news agency CNS.
He added that on July 9, a day after the death of Hizb Commander Burhan Wani, clashes erupted outside the temple between protesters and CRPF while temple was never attacked. “This was the sole incident that occurred outside the temple and that day protesters attacked CRPF and not the temple. The irony is that some Kashmiri Pandits took to social media and spread the wrong information about the attack on temple that never happened. The video that has gone viral is a doctored one and government should initiate inquiry about it and nab the culprits who are hell-bent to defame the Muslim population of Kashmir,” Ashok Sodhi said. (CNS)