Srinagar, June 26: Eid was celebrated across Jammu and Kashmir Monday but the festivities were marred by clashes between protesters and security forces in many parts of the Kashmir Valley, injuring some 20 people.
Five policemen, including a senior officer, were injured in the south Kashmir town of Anantnag after protesters took on the security forces in Janglat Mandi area immediately after Eid prayers. The clashes, with mobs of young men hurling stones at security forces, then spread to adjoining Achabal area in Anantnag district.
Similar street fighting also broke out in Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama towns in southern Kashmir. Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were injured in Srinagar’s Old City area where youths threw stones at security forces.
Similar clashes were reported from north Kashmir’s Sopore and Pattan towns too. The security forces used tear smoke shells and pellet shotguns to disperse the protesters. Witnesses and official sources said over a dozen demonstrators sustained injuries in the action by the security forces.
“The security forces are exercising maximum restraint while dealing with the stone-pelting mobs,” a senior police officer here said. Eid prayers elsewhere in the Valley ended peacefully. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti offered Eid prayers at a mosque in the high security Sonawar area in Srinagar.
A large number of devotees prayed at the Hazratbal and other mosques and Eidgahs in the Valley. For security reasons, many ministers and senior civil and police officers offered prayers at the district police lines mosque here at 6.30 a.m. Jammu and Kashmir’s Inspector General of Police Sunday issued an advisory, asking VIPs to offer Eid prayers only at secure places and to avoid
public places.
