Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met PM Narendra Modi today over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Highlights
- Mehbooba Mufti has called for dialogue with separatists
- Vajpayee's approach needed to calm situation in Kashmir: Ms Mufti
- Kashmir has been witnessing protests since April 9
Clashes broke out today as hundreds of students tried to take out a protest march in Srinagar but were stopped by the police. The students took out their march from SP College on one of the busiest areas of Srinagar. According to the police, some of them threw stones after which security forces used batons. More violence erupted in the afternoon at the Lal Chowk area as the protests intensified. In the afternoon, a leader of the ruling PDP was shot dead by suspected terrorists.
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Colleges opened in Kashmir today after a gap of five days because of a week of student protests against the alleged highhandedness of security forces who entered a college in Pulwama earlier this month and interrogated students.
Video clips that showed students being beaten went viral on social media, after which security forces drew criticism. Over 50 students were injured after they protested against a temporary check-post set up outside the college by the security forces.
Classes in all the colleges across the Kashmir Valley were suspended on Tuesday following widespread student protests. Dozens were injured in clashes with the forces which started in Srinagar and Pulwama and spread to other parts of Kashmir. Teenagers in school uniform and women students wearing white headscarves were among the protesters who chanted anti-India slogans and threw stones at the forces.
PDP leader Abdul Gani Dar was shot dead in Pulwama in the afternoon. Mr Dar was shot in the chest at close range when he was travelling in his car in a district around 30 km from Srinagar.
There have been protests and anger in Kashmir since April 9, when eight people were killed by the forces during by-election violence.
Videos that have emerged over the past few days have exacerbated tension. Footage showing a young man tied to the front of an army jeep as a human shield against stone-throwing protesters caused outrage after it was circulated on social media last week.
Another video showed jawans being pushed and taunted by a crowd when they were leaving a polling station in Srinagar after by-poll voting.
This morning, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called for dialogue with separatists.
Ms Mufti said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's approach was needed to calm the situation in Kashmir.
"At a time when stone pelting and firing are on, talks are difficult, but the Prime Minister has invoked Vajpayee many times (and) there is a need to start building from what Vajpayee had achieved," Ms Mufti told reporters after the 40-minute meeting.
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