Mob sets ablaze house where Burhan was killed

Suhail A Shah &Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Anantnag/Srinagar, July 14

The house where 22-year-old militant commander Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight last week was set on fire by protesters in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district today.

The house was set ablaze following rumours suggesting the family of the house owner was somehow involved in getting the militant cornered. There have been no reports of injuries to anybody during the incident. Wani along with two other militants, Sartaj Ahmad and Parvez, were killed in Bumdoora village of Kokernag area. The house is said to have belonged to Sartaj’s relatives.

A senior police official from the area acknowledged that a house had been torched in Bumdoora without giving details about the incident.

“I have sent a police team to the spot to ascertain what transpired there. For now, we only know that a house has been torched by a mob,” the police official told The Tribune. According to local sources, the incident took place on Thursday afternoon after rumours about the family’s “involvement” started doing the rounds in Bumdoora and adjoining villages.

People from across the area marched towards Bumdoora and torched the house.

“Fortunately, the family was not present in the house at the time of the incident,” the sources said, adding that at least one other house had been partially damaged in the blaze.

Meanwhile, curfew continued for the sixth consecutive day amid tension in many parts of the Kashmir valley. A south Kashmir youth succumbed to his injuries in a hospital, taking the toll of civilians to 35. As one policeman had also died after he was pushed by a mob into Jhelum river at Sangam, the total toll since Friday stood at 36. However, the government has put the death count of civilians at 31. Irfan Ahmad Dar from the Kulgam district succumbed at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), where he was admitted on July 11.

“It was a critical case of assault,” a senior doctor at SKIMS said. There are allegations that Irfan was beaten up by the security forces during clashes in the area. However, a police officer said the youth was not assaulted.

There were reports of clashes today between security forces and protesters at nearly a dozen places. The mobile Internet services and train service in Kashmir continued to remain suspended for the sixth consecutive day.

“The overall situation throughout the Valley remained under control today though some incidents of stone-throwing were reported,” a police spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the police today conducted a test flight of a drone at the city centre of Lal Chowk. Sources said the drone may be used to carry out surveillance at Lal Chowk and adjoining volatile Maisuma localities.

Show restraint, PM tells security forces

New Delhi: Concerned over the spate in violence and stone-throwing by mobs in Kashmir for the last five days, which resulted in large-scale injuries to civilians in police action, the Centre directed forces on the ground to show calm and restraint and take action only against identified troublemakers.Government sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval. Modi instructed Doval to speak to ground commanders and direct them not to lose calm and deal with the situation with utmost restraint. — TNS