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J&K: 10 injured as police clash with protestors

June 08, 2009 22:22 IST

Protests rocked the south Kashmir's Shopian town where the separatists had called for a march on Monday, resulting in injuries to ten persons.

Meanwhile, a local cop was arrested by the police on Monday for his alleged involvement in the rape of a girl in the Tangmarg area of north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

The grandmother of the victim died in a scuffle with the cop's family on Monday morning, which triggered tension and protests in the town.

The arrested cop identified as Nazir Ahmad was serving as a security guard of the local legislator, Ghulam Hassan Mir, but had been transferred recently.

A mob of protestors tried to march to Shopian on Monday afternoon but were prevented by the security forces, who had sealed all the entry and exit routes to the town.

As the mob turned violent and started pelting stones at the security forces, they opened fire, resulting in gunshot injuries to four protestors who were shifted to a hospital for treatment.

High tension gripped Shopian in the wake of the incident. The police said six more persons including four cops were wounded in the Monday afternoon clashes.

In the summer capital Srinagar, the authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions to thwart Monday's proposed march to Shopian called by the senior separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, presently under detention at an unknown place.

Security forces had erected barricades and blocked road-crossings in capital city with razor fitted wires to prevent the march.

No vehicular or pedestrian movement was allowed anywhere in the capital city on Monday.

The other towns also saw heavy deployments of police and paramilitary and the Central Reserve Police Force made to prevent marches as well.

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar