A 30-year-old lecturer was beaten to death by army in Shaar Shaali in Khrew in Pulwama district on Wednesday night, taking the civilian death toll to 66 in the ongoing unrest in the Valley.According to locals of the village, Shabir Ahmad Mangoo, who is survived by his wife and a toddler son, was killed when army raided houses in the village on Wednesday night and ran amok while beating civilians.“Shabir was ruthlessly beaten by the army and he was declared brought dead by the doctors in Pampore hospital,” the villagers said.The villagers said that scores of youth were injured as the army beat them to pulp. Police said they have registered a case.Doctors in SMHS said that 24 civilians were received in injured condition on from Khrew. “All the patients were ruthlessly beaten by forces,” the doctors told KNS.Protests broke out in Khrew and adjacent areas in Pampore against the killing of the civilian and beating of others.National Conference member from Pampore constituency, Yawar Masoodi on Thursday evening issued a statement over the Khrew incident in which the teacher was killed.Masoodi demanded registration of FIR against the accused in killing of Shabir Ahmad Mangoo.
“The security forces comprising of ARMY, CRPF and SOG swooped on and cordoned the village Shar-e-Shali at around 10 PM when the residents were asleep and beat them mercilessly till 2 AM. The forces after breaking open the doors and windows entered residential houses and attacked men, women and children. In the unjustified crackdown scores of people were injured and property worth millions damaged,” Masoodi said.“The forces targeted parked vehicles, window panes and electronic gadgets found in the houses. The forces while leaving the village arrested and took around a dozen injured boys including the deceased who was also seriously injured in the crackdown,” he added.He added that on way, they killed Shabir Ahmad Mangoo and threw his dead body at Lethpora, which was later picked up by a sumo driver and took to Sub-District Hospital Pampore.Meanwhile, strict curfew continued in the valley for the 41ist day today since July 8 when Hizbul Mujahideen young commander Burhan Wani was killed in a brief gunfight in Bumdoora village in Kokernag in Anantnag district.
The authorities also began imposing night curfew from Wednesday to disallow movement of private and public vehicles on the roads.A police official in south Kashmir told KNS that the night curfew has been imposed to thwart the relaxation in hartals called by separatist leaders.CRPF and police had blocked Srinagar-Jammu Highway on Wednesday late evening at many places including Panthachowk and Lethpora.“We were not allowed to proceed to Khanabal by CRPF as they told us that night curfew is in place,” Javaid Ahmad, a cab driver told KNS.CRPF, police personnel were deployed in Srinagar and other major towns in Kashmir on Thursday to thwart protests by people and their march to UN Military Observers Group in Sonawar here. The march was called by the joint resistance leadership against the fresh civilian killings in this week in the Valley.Razor, concertina wires were erected by the forces on all major roads to block movement of civilians.Mobile, telephony, internet services continue to be blocked, while only BSNL postpaid and Broadband are working.66 civilian have been killed while thousands of civilians critically injured by forces with pellet guns and firearms. Two cops have also died during the ongoing unrest in the Valley. (KNS)