10.7.16

Kashmir Valley erupts

Thousands of men angrily punched the air with their fists, women sobbed hiding their faces with headscarves, and boys took pictures and videos with their smartphones as Hizbul Mujahideen's newage icon Burhan Wani was buried in Kashmir Valley's biggest funeral procession in 26 years of insurgency .
Eleven people were killed and 200 injured in clashes with security forces as mobs set fire to vehicles and police posts on Saturday . The Centre is rushing 1,200 paramilitary personnel to the Valley. Wani, 22, who joined militancy at 15, became a cult figure among youth a couple of years ago when he took to social media and flaunted his Kalashnikov-wielding guerrilla team.Many called it IS-style use of social media as a weapon of war. On Friday , Wani and two other militants were killed in a gun battle with special forces, SOG, and the Army's 19 RR in Bumdoora area of Kokernag in South Kashmir. Police handed over the bodies to their families on Saturday morning.
The crowd of mourners, anti-India slogans from loudspeakers of mosques and widespread protests underlined that the romance with `azadi' hadn't waned despite huge security successes against Pakistan-based terrorists and the rising turnouts in elections. Despite the suspension of mobile internet services, hashtag Burhan Wani kept trending on Twitter and Facebook in Srinagar. Kashmiri youth called Wani their `hero' and a `martyr' and India an `oppressive occupier'.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah took to Twitter and said Wani had become the new `icon' of the “disaffected community“ in the Valley. “Mark my words. Burhan's ability to recruit into militancy from the grave will far outstrip anything he could have done on social media,“ he warned in a tweet.
Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti sought people's cooperation in restoration of normalcy in the Valley .
“Violence only brings misery to the people and tragedies for the victim families,“ she said, appealing to the people, especially the youth, “not to fall prey to the machinations of vested interests who play politics over the bodies of Kashmiris“.
At the funeral in Tral Eidgah, witnesses said about four armed Hizbul Mujahideen militants appeared and fired 21-gun shots in the air as a mark of respect. Wani's father Muzaffar called his son a “martyr in the service of Allah“. Large funeral processions for militants is common in Kashmir but Wani's burial drew unprecedented numbers across the Valley despite curfew and restrictions clamped by the government on people's movement.
As news of Wani's killing spread, mobs pelted stones on Kashmiri Pandit transit camps in Haal Pulwama and attacked a BJP office in Kulgam. The camp residents posted help calls on Facebook to reach police and the government. Authorities su spended the Amarnath Yatra, train services within the Valley and even postponed all university and board exams in view of the impending trouble. Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, put under house arrest on Friday night, had called for a shut down across the Valley .

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