By Arif Bashir
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister blamed Syed Shah Geelani for the death of a man in fresh sttine pelting in the Valley. Taking strong note of the incident and the press conference at which Syed Ali Geelani had asked people to protest on Fridays, Omar Abdullah, while expressing grief over the killing of a BOSE said Geelani was solely responsible for the death.
“Had he not announced his Friday Calendar, one innocent life would have not been lost,” Omar said. The Chief Minister said these people were playing with the lives of innocent Kashmiris to keep their political shops running. “Any right-thinking person will condemn this death unequivocally. This is an unnecessary death brought about by unnecessary timetable of protests announced by Geelani. He is singularly responsible for this death,” Omar told a private TV channel.
The advisor to chief minister Mubarak Gul announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs one lakh to the next of kin.
Stone pelting incidents re-surfaced in the valley after the senior separatist leader and chairman of his own faction of the Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani, asked people to hold ‘peaceful protests’ every Friday, with one more person being killed in the fresh spurt of violence.
The person was killed when hit by a stone in the head near Batamaloo two km away from Srinagar as a group of stone pelters attacked vehicles in order to stop traffic.
The 40 year old Shiekh was boarding a mini bus on way to his office when he was hit in the head by a rock near Magarmal Bagh as the area witnessed massive stone pelting incidents. The injured was rushed to SMHS (Shri Maharaja Hari Singh) hospital immediately but died on way.
As the news of the killing spread, people in Natipora took to the streets. They were alleging that the man was hit by a bullet and not by a stone.
However, the chief medical superintendent, SKIMS, Soura confirmed the deceased was hit by a stone.
SSP Srinagar, Riyaz Bedar said some miscreants were pelting stones on vehicles to stop traffic movement. He said post mortem of the body was conducted in the presence of relatives and the police have also recovered the stone, stained with blood.
However, the driver of the ill-fated vehicle, Adil said he couldn’t recognize the stone pelters as he was busy at the wheel. “Passengers started weeping on seeing blood,” Adil said.
Meanwhile, as news reached Natipora locality, scores of youth took to the streets, burnt tyres and blocked traffic. The police had to resorting to lathi charge and tear-gas shelling to disperse the crowd.
On February 22, a 11-day old infant died in North Kashmir’s Baramulla area after he fell from his mother’s arms during an attack on a mini-bus by a group of stone pelters.
Geelani was scheduled to lead a protest rally from an Amira Kadal Masjid to United Nations Military Observers Group at Sonawar to protest against the death sentence against two Kashmiris in the Lajpat Nagar bombing case in Delhi. The march was foiled by the police by putting Geelani under house arrest and marchers stopped outside the masjid.
Chairman of another faction of the Hurriyat, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was also put under house arrest, which, police sources said, was aimed at maintaining law and order in the old city.