Restrictions were imposed on Friday in Pulwama and adjoining areas to foil protests against the recent civilian killings. The district observed a shutdown for the seventh consecutive day.
Eyewitnesses said that authorities have put in place heavy deployment of police and CRPF personnel personnel to enforce the restrictions.
Coordination Committee Pulwama had called for a protest after Friday prayers after which a memorandum-demanding inquiry into the killings would be submitted to Deputy Commissioner Pulwama.
Seven civilians were killed after armed forces opened fire on civilian protesters near the site of a gunfight in Kharpora Sarnoo village of Pulwama district last week. Three militants and an army man were killed in the gunfight.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) while condemning the Pulwama Civilian Killings, in a statement, called it a ‘wicked terrorist act’.
In a statement, the OIC said, “The OIC General Secretariat condemned this terrorist act and called upon the international community to play its role in order to reach a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Kashmir, in accordance with the relevant international resolutions adopted by the OIC and the UN Security Council, and fulfill the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.”
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah while reacting on the killings had said that it is a massacre and there is no other way to describe it.
Earlier, Abdullah while reacting to the civilian killings had said that it was ‘another blood soaked weekend in Kashmir‘.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti while reacting to the civilian killings said that there would be no probe which would bring back the dead. She also asked that ‘is this what was expected from the Governor rule’.
She also said that no country can win a war by killing its own people.
Peoples’ Conference chief Sajad Lone while reacting on the civilian killings said that the administration seriously needs to evaluate the cost of such operations. He added that ‘hope the administration gives up its ‘Rambo mindset‘.
Police, in their statement said that they were ‘deeply grieved’ by the loss of civilian lives, however, claimed that the crowd came ‘dangerously close‘ to the gunfight site
