India PM calls emergency meeting as Kashmir death toll rises

Curfew imposed in the disputed Himalayan region continues for the fifth consecutive day to suppress anti-India violence following the Friday killing of Burhan Wani, chief of operations of Hizbul Mujahideen, Kashmir’s largest rebel group.

“They just provoke others’ children, not their own”, he alleged and said gun is not the solution to the Kashmir issue. This raised the toll during the five-day unrest to 35.

One of the injured later succumbed to bullet injuries – taking the death toll to 34 in recent Valley violence, police sources told IANS.

Hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were detained by police after they tried to defy restrictions and lead a march to Martyrs graveyard in downtown Srinagar.

However, rights activists and ambulance drivers said government forces attacked them on the way to hospitals.

The curfew like restrictions remained in force in several sensitive areas in south, north Kashmir and Srinagar parts.

“How can people move and attend marriage functions when there is curfew and violence around”, he said. She said she needs people’s support in realising the dream of a politically-emancipated, economically self-reliant and socially secure Jammu and Kashmir.

Mobile Internet services across the Valley and train services remained suspended for the fourth day even as mobile telephony was partially restored in the four districts of south Kashmir.

Public life remains stagnant with shops, private establishments, and business enterprises closed for the fourth day.

New Delhi-based English newspaper Hindustan Times quoted Kashmir’s heath administrator, Saleem Ur Rehman, saying about 50 ambulances were damaged as they ferried injured people to hospitals.

“I appeal to everybody to restore calm and peace so that further loss of lives is avoided”, the Peoples Democratic Party leader said.

India accuses Pakistan of sheltering rebels and helping them cross into Kashmir to carry out attacks on Indian soil. “We are not listening to our youth”.

The tensions have been triggered by the killing of 22-year-old Burhan Wani in a shootout with security forces. Yes, let us play blame-game when we are incapable of bringing a situation under control.

Hospitals in India’s portion of Kashmir are overwhelmed, with hundreds of wounded patients pouring in as the region reels from days of clashes between anti-India protesters and government troops that have killed at least 31 people. Prime Minister Modi pushed his luck last December when he arrived in Lahore to greet Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif on the latter’s birthday.

On Monday, when the violence was spiralling, Mr Sharif referred to Wani as “a Kashmiri leader”, seeking to eulogize him.India retaliated with a statement declaring Pakistan had revealed it “continued attachment to terrorism” and asked Islamabad to “refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbours”.

Salahuddin said that the Pakistani leadership, the government and the opposition could forget the differences and stand up with the people of Kashmir so that the freedom movement could enter into a decisive step.