Violent protests against anti-Islam film in Kashmir

Violence marked the Kashmir bandh against the anti-Islam film on Tuesday when protesters clashed with the police and torched a government vehicle near the residence of deputy chief minister Tara Chand in Srinagar.

The incident occurred in the afternoon when the police stopped an anti-US procession near the Sangarmal Shopping Complex and asked the protesters to return. Protesters however did not heed to the police pleas and tried to break the barricade prompting cops to use force to disperse the mob.

The angry protesters later went on a rampage and set the government vehicle on fire. Protesters also smashed the wind screen of the parked water tanker of Jammu and Kashmir Economic Reconstruction Agency. Protesters later pelted stones at the shopping complex and adjoining residential houses of VIPs. Security forces exercised restraint and did not open fire.

“Peaceful marches were taken out at many places across the valley against the blasphemous movie clips. However during a march near Sangarmal Shopping Complex few miscreants set ablaze a Gypsy of Kulgam municipality. Miscreants also appeared at Tengpora Bypass and resorted to stone pelting but they were chased away by the police,” said a police spokesman.

A group of clerics led by chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Muttahida Ullemai Ahle Sunnat (MUAS) Moulana Ghulam Rasool Hami staged a protest demonstration outside the office of UN Military Observers Group in Indian and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

Chanting anti-US, anti-Israel slogans, the clerics burnt the US flag and the portrait of Barack Obama before submitting a memorandum to UNMOGIP representative calling for the stringent punishment to the filmmaker.

“We strongly condemn the blasphemous movie. It has hurt the feelings and sentiments of crores of Muslims across the globe. Today’s protest rally was aimed at sending a clear message to those who committed this heinous act,” said Moulana Hami.

Life in Kashmir remained paralysed as people observed a complete shutdown against the blasphemous film. Shops and business establishments were closed and public transport was off the roads. Attendance in the government offices was very thin.