Missing youth's body found; Srinagar erupts in protests

Violence erupted in Srinagar again on Wednesday morning, following the recovery of the body of a student, who had been missing since last week.

The undergraduate student, Asrar Ahmad Dar, went missing after he left his home on a motorcycle last Wednesday. His body was recovered by the police from Kathidarwaza locality in the old city today morning.

As the news of Dar's death reached Maisuma, where his family resides, hundreds of angry youths took to the streets. They shouted anti-government slogans, ransacked shops and damaged passing vehicles. Several shopkeepers were also roughed up by the angry mob.

A mob surrounded and torched a police vehicle in Budshah Chowk adjacent to city centre Lal Chowk and destroyed two more police vehicles in the area.

The mobs indulged in heavy stone pelting and police, paramilitary and Central Reserve Police Force troopers were deployed in Lal Chowk area to control the situation.

Security forces fired warning shots, teargas shells and resorted to repeated baton charges to quell the relentless mob.
The angry youths grouped and regrouped in the lanes and by-lanes around the city centre and in Maisuma locality, pelting stones at the policemen and CRPF personnel.

Students of a local college, where Dar had studied, came out on the streets, shouting anti-government slogans. The students forced the closure of shops and businesses in the old city.

Over 25 people were injured in the clashes, informed a senior police officer. He said the condition of one injured youth was serious.

Kashmir has witnessed sporadic violence since the bodies of two women, who had been raped and murdered, were found in Shopian in south Kashmir on May 30.