CM Mehbooba upset over youth’s death
Srinagar: Two youths were on Saturday killed during clashes between security forces and protesters in south Kashmir, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest in the Valley to 75.
Sayar Ahmad Sheikh was hit by a tear smoke shell in the head at Tukroo when security personnel were trying to disperse a group of stone-pelting protestors, a police official said.
Restrictions are in place in the area under Section 144 of CrPC, which prohibits assembly of four or more people. The official said Sheikh was rushed to the sub-district hospital at Rajpora where doctors declared him brought dead. Another youth, Yawar Bhat, died in security forces’ action after protestors indulged in stone pelting at Botengoo in Anantnag district, the official said.
Bhat sustained pellet injuries during the clashes, he said. With this, the toll in the unrest has now risen to 75. Several other persons were injured in the two incidents. Clashes were also reported from the old city area and Budgam district, where at least a dozen people have been injured, he said. The situation across the Valley continues to be tense, he added.
Expressing concern over the death of a stone pelter in South Kashmir’s Shopian district, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said she is upset after coming to know about the incident. “I don’t know what to say, I am slightly upset because as I was leaving for this place, my secretary told me that in Shopian yet again a boy, who was pelting stones, has died, so I am slightly upset today,” she said during a function here.
The Chief Minister thanked the health department for doing a “remarkable job” in testing times in Kashmir and applauded their efforts and services.
“I would like to thank and congratulate the health department for being up to the mark in such testing times.
“The health staff has been working round-the-clock in the Valley and some of them have not visited their home for several weeks,” she said.
She said the most noble profession was that of the doctors and her parents also wanted her to become a doctor. (PTI)