Complete shutdown was Friday observed in Pulwama and Shopian districts over the killings of two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants in an encounter by forces on Thursday.All shops and business establishments remained closed while public transport was off the roads throughout the day.Naseer Pandit, a deserted cop of Karimabad and Waseem Malla of Tranz, Shopian, were killed in an encounter at Vihil village of Shopian on Thursday morning.Residents in Karimabad Friday staged protest against forces for allegedly deserting the graves of “nine militants in the martyr’s graveyard” in Karimabad village.“In the intervening night of Thursday-Friday, forces personnel entered in the martyr’s graveyard in our village and desecrated the graves of nine militants. They also removed the banners,” a resident told KNS.The protesters demanded that the graves which were deserted should be restored till Sunday or else they will launch an indefinite strike.Police refuted the allegations of the residents about desecrating graves, but assured the people that the vandalism in the graveyard will be thoroughly investigated.
In a statement to KNS, Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, Rayees Ahmad said that the rumours are being spread by some miscreants that forces have desecrated graves in the graveyard.“All such reports are completely false and baseless. No such incident took place and it was an attempt to prevent arrests in Thursday’s arson near Karimabad, where some miscreants torched a police vehicle,” he said.“We have also registered case under number 123/2016 under sections 307, 392, 435, 148, 149 and 332 RPC in the vehicle burning case and the miscreants involved have been identified and action will be initiated soon."Meanwhile, clashes erupted between youth and forces in Newa village of Pulwama and Shopian in which three youth were reportedly injured.Among three injured youth, one was shifted to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital for treatment, locals said. (KNS)