Zakir Musa killing: Curfew, restrictions bring life to halt in Kashmir
Srinagar: Curfew was imposed in parts of Kashmir on Friday, a day after Zakir Musa, the so-called chief of a group affiliated to the Al-Qaeda, was believed to have been killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral.
Educational institutions have been closed and curfew was imposed in places in Kashmir as a precautionary measure, following the Thursday incident, officials said.
Internet was also shutdown, they said.
Musa, who was killed in the gunfight with security forces, was the so-called head of the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.
Two militants were believed to be killed in the encounter in a village south Kashmir’s Tral area, however, a confusion over their identities prevailed for a long time.
However, Musa’s family confirmed that he was present at the site.
Later a defence spokesman based in Srinagar said that only one militant was killed in the fire fight.
On Friday a police spokesman said that based on a credible input, a cordon and search operation was launched by police and security forces at Batpora in Dadsara area of Awantipora.
During the search operation, the hiding militants fired on the search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed and the body was retrieved from the site of encounter. The killed militant was identified as Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Musa of Noorpora Tral.
Meanwhile, spontaneous protests had broken out in Shopian, Pulwama, Awantipora and downtown Srinagar, with people raising slogans in favour of Musa.
Senior police officials had said security forces had launched a cordon and search operation at Dadsara village and when the militants tried to escape, a gunfight broke out.
They had said efforts were made to make them surrender but the request fell on deaf ears and the holed up militants started lobbing grenades using a launcher.
The officials had said more security forces were rushed to the area to prevent the militants from escaping under the cover of darkness.
On Thursday, the Jammu and Kashmir Police announced restrictions in some areas of Pulwama, Awantipora, Srinagar, Anantnag and Budgam as a precautionary measure.
The officials said the decision was made keeping in view the Friday prayer gatherings.
Police and paramilitary troopers were deployed in strength in many sensitive areas here to thwart any possible protests against the death of Zakir Musa.
Witnesses said that the forces were deployed in Srinagar and other areas in the wee hours of the Friday morning who had erected concertina wires on the roads.
The curfew-like-restrictions as per officials were put in place as precautionary measure to thwart any protest.
Moreover, a spontaneous shutdown was observed across the Valley to mourn the death of a militant commander in an encounter.
All the shops, business establishments, petrol pumps and private offices remained closed while as the vehicular movement was also off the roads.
Moreover, the Friday prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in Old City Nowhatta in Srinagar were disallowed by the authorities for the second consecutive week.
The prayers were disallowed amid strict restrictions imposed by the government to thwart any protests against the death of a militant commander Zakir Musa.
Amid restrictions, all the four gates of Jamia Masjid remained locked, barring people from offering prayers in the historic Mosque.
Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman and Jamia Masjid’s head cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the disallowing of Friday prayers, stating that it is extremely sad that Kashmir loses its promising young on every day in one way or other to the lingering conflict.
In a tweet this afternoon, Mirwaiz urged all stakeholders to come together to bring peace to this beleaguered land by resolving the Kashmir issue.
“Condemn that for the second time in #Ramadan jumma prayers disallowed at #JamaMasjid. Extremely sad that each day #Kashmir loses its promising young in one way or other to the lingering conflict. Urge all stakeholders to come together to put an end to this daily killing and violence and bring peace to this beleaguered land by resolving the Kashmir issue,” Mirwaiz tweeted.
KV News
