Kashmir continues to remain tense after fresh violence

Srinagar, New Delhi: Kashmir continues to remain tense after fresh violence on Tuesday left one person killed and two others injured in Qamarwari area of Srinagar.

Fresh clashes were reported from the Budgam district where two people were injured after security forces fired on protesters as they headed towards the railway station.

Batmaloo area where a 9-year-old was killed during protests on Saturday also saw overnight clashes.

The Valley has seen a fierce wave of violence since Friday. In the last five days, 23 people have been killed, many of them teenagers. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reviewed security in the Valley late last night.
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In Kashmir, they say the fierce present is a chilling flashback to two decades ago, when militancy first took seed. A police station set on fire. An Air Force bus set on fire. An attempt to set a railway station on fire. The flames lick the air, fanning months of tension, bitterness. On the streets, a curfew is ignored by protesters marching, the steady rhythm of their force advancing forcing people to retreat further into their homes.

In fact, Kashmir may be in more trouble now because the militant with the gun has been replaced by a new tribe of warrior: the man - and increasingly, the woman - on the street, armed with just a stone, leading a more potent form of protest.

All lines of communication appear to have broken down. The indiscriminate anger on the street skirmishes daily with anarchy, targeting police stations, military buses, anything that symbolises the state. It seems to feed off the paralysis of politics, filling the gap created with hatred.

The cycle of violence has to be broken, urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Delhi after an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister and Home Minister. (Read - Omar: Restraint cannot be one-sided, curfew will be enforced)

But the real crisis for the government is the absence of a specific party to engage with in a dialogue. Abdullah conceded there is no one group or entity instigating or coordinating the protests that scourge the Valley every day.

The Opposition there suggests that mainstream parties can no longer engage with the hearts and minds of the people. Speaking to NDTV, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said, "Mainstream parties will become irrelevant if the situation in Kashmir doesn't change.

The burning crisis took centrestage in Parliament with LK Advani saying "the Prime Minister should explain what the government is doing to control the situation there".

"It should be told what all has been done to control the situation in Kashmir. What are the facts? The police is saying we have never seen a situation like this before. The house would like to know what's the situation," said Advani.


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kashmir-one-killed-two-injured-in-fresh-protests-41560?cp