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Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007
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Protest against killing of youth in Kashmir

Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR: At least 15 people were injured at Dangiwacha on Tuesday when police used force to disperse people protesting against the killing of a youth at Handwara.

Local residents refused to bury the body of 20-year-old Mohammed Ramzan Shah till a probe was ordered. The youth was killed in a 14-hour encounter on Monday along with a foreign militant of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Raising slogans, the protesters blocked the Baramulla-Rafiabad road. Police resorted to lathi charge and burst teargas shells to disperse them.

Eight policemen were injured when the demonstrators pelted stones at them.

The protesters refuted the police claim that Shah was a militant and alleged that he was arrested and then killed.

“He had gone gone to college in Sopore and was arrested by the Army on Sunday when he was on his way to attend a function at his aunt’s place in Handwara,” his brother Khurshid Ahmed said.Defending the action, DIG North Kashmir range B. Sirinivas told The Hindu that Shah was an active militant and had fought the security forces in the encounter. “I am positive that he was a militant and you can confirm it from the people in Handwara where the encounter took place,” Mr. Sirinivas said. “I wish the media would go to the place and gather facts on their own,” he said adding that protests over such incidents were not new. “We have registered a case after we were convinced that he was a militant,” he added.

CPI (M) State secretary M.Y. Tarigami and senior vice-president of the ruling Congress Abdul Gani Vakil have urged the government to order an inquiry into the incident. People’s Democratic Party spokesperson said that police should refrain from applying brutal force against people whenever any public outrage is invoked by any incident. He said that a probe should be conducted and people taken into confidence.

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