SRINAGAR: Restrictions have been imposed and security tightened in parts of Indian-occupied Kashmir as the disputed valley marks the second martyrdom anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
According to an Indian police official, restrictions have been imposed in Tral township, in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and in the Nowhatta and Maisuma police station areas of Srinagar.
The curbs have been imposed as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order and to avoid any untoward incident, the official said.
“Security forces have been deployed in strength at sensitive places across the occupied valley,” he added.
Earlier, separatist leaders called for a shutdown today to commemorate Wani’s martyrdom.
Following the strike calls, Indian forces cracked down on separatist leaders. Yasin Malik was detained and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq put under house arrest while Syed Ali Shah Geelani remains under house detention.
Wani, a resident of Tral, was martyred by Indian forces on July 8, 2016.
His martyrdom has triggered a sustained wave of violent protests that have so far claimed the lives of at least 100 civilians, with last year the deadliest in the occupied region for the past decade.
Thousands of others were injured by shotgun pellets fired by the Indian army.
Indian army martyrs three protesters
Indian troops martyred three stone-throwing protesters, including a 16-year-old girl in Indian-administered Kashmir, on Saturday as tensions rose ahead of Wani’s martyrdom anniversary.
Witnesses said soldiers opened fire in the southern Kashmiri district of Kulgam after hundreds of people angry at an army search operation gathered to protest, some hurling objects.
A government doctor told media that the dead included two men aged 20 and 22 years and a 16-year-old girl.
“The three had bullet injuries and succumbed soon after their arrival at the hospital,” the doctor at a sub-district hospital in Kulgam said on condition of anonymity.
Indian police chief SP Vaid confirmed the deaths to media but did not reveal any more details.