Students clash with police in Srinagar

Srinagar: A number of upmarket areas in the heart of Srinagar city virtually turned into a battleground on Monday as students clashed with police, on a day colleges reopened in Kashmir after a five-day shutdown ordered by the government.

Police had to fire dozens of tear smoke shells in an attempt to disperse the stone-pelting students from S P College and the adjoining Women’s College on M A Road, officials said.

They said the clashes emanated from S P College and soon spread to the streets of Regal Chowk and adjoining areas. The students from the Women’s College also joined the protests, which spread to other parts of the commercial hub, the officials said.

The cops also fired a couple of aerial shots but it was not clear whether live ammunition or rubber bullets were used.

The clashes led to closure of the markets and the people rushed to safer locations out of the commercial hub, the officials said.

The violence was witnessed on a day the colleges reopened in the valley after a gap of five days. The authorities had shut the higher educational institutions as a precautionary measure in the wake of widespread violence by the students in Kashmir on Monday against the alleged high handedness of security forces with students in Pulwama on April 15.

PDP leader shot dead by militants

Militants on Monday shot dead the PDP district president for Pulwama, Abdul Gani Dar, in the south Kashmir district, police said.

Gani was shot at by the militants in Pinglena area of Pulwama district, 31 kms from here, on Monday afternoon, a police official said.

Dar, an advocate by profession, was referred to SMHS Hospital here but succumbed to injuries.

The PDP leader was shot at three times from a close range with an AK assault rifle, he said, adding two bullets hit him in the chest and one in the shoulder.

No militants outfit has claimed responsibility for the killing so far. This is second political killing in south Kashmir in a week.

On April 17, militants had shot dead a former public prosecutor affiliated with opposition National Conference in Shopian district. (PTI)