SRINAGAR, June 1: Shops and businesses across Kashmir heeded a call by separatists to close on Thursday to protest the killing by soldiers of mourners angry over the drowning of 22 school children in a boating accident.
The one-day strike emptied shopping districts in Srinagar and in the mountainous region’s towns and villages.
“We are protesting for the right to mourn,” said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a leader of the hardline faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, said.
The children drowned on Tuesday when the small navy boat they were riding in on a Kashmiri lake capsized. A day later, a crowd of mourners enraged by the deaths — which they blamed on military negligence — tried to storm an army camp, prompting the soldiers to open fire.
“Our children died because of navy’s negligence,” Geelani said. “To add insult to injury, soldiers shot mourners.”
MILITANTS: Meanwhile, five rebels and an Indian paramilitary soldier were killed died as troops hunt down armed rebels in ongoing operations, the army said Thursday.
Three guerrillas and the soldier were shot dead at Amirabad village which has been under military siege for three days.
Two more rebels were killed by the army on Thursday during a raid on a rebel hideout at Kralpora village in the central Budgam district, army spokesman Vijay Batra told AFP.
“The firing has stopped but the operation is still on,” he added.
At Amirabad, 40 kilometers south of Srinagar, paramilitary and police on Tuesday acted on a tip off that militants had taken refuge there.—Agencies
