Curfew relaxation extended; no untoward incident in Valley

Relaxation was given in Bandipora district for a few hours till 11 am.

The authorities clamped curfew in all the ten districts of Kashmir Valley on Tuesday for the first time in 13 years after protests over the “economic blockade” in the wake of the Amarnath land row turning violent leading to police firing and death of 21 people.

The valley has remained shut for almost 10 days owing to strikes called by separatists on the Amarnath issue.

Curfew, which was relaxed in Srinagar city for a few hours, was reimposed at 2200 hours on Wednesday night after protests over alleged high handedness of the CRPF in various violence-hit areas in the Valley.

A CRPF spokesman denied the charges that the force was crossing the limits of policing.

“There are some vested interests that want to create misunderstanding between the people and the force. CRPF is a people-friendly force and is out there to maintain peace and law and order,” CRPF spokesman P Tripathy said.

He said the vested interests were taking advantage of the protests and instigating people to attack CRPF camps.

Calls were issued from mosques in Srinagar late on Wednesday night asking people to come out to protest against the killing of people in the last two days.

Meanwhile, truckloads of vegetables, grains and milk arrived in the city from villages in the Valley to meet the demand of essential commodities.

The state administration said thousands of trucks were arriving with essentials though traders disputed the claim.