Protests, an uneasy calm and a sense of deep grief enveloped south Kashmir’s Anantnag on Monday, a day after Zahid Rasool Bhat, a 19-year-old trucker, succumbed to his injuries after the truck, which he was travelling in was attacked over beef rumours.
Zahid, who suffered 74 per cent burns, was buried in his ancestral village of Anantnag amidst a curfew-like situation.
Zahid’s death led to clashes between police and protesters who yelled slogans against the coalition government of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Thousands of people seething with anger from the village and adjoining areas joined his funeral on Sunday morning.
Teary-eyed women were seen beating their chests as Zahid’s funeral made its way to the local graveyard at Botengoo village on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed in Srinagar and other towns to maintain law and order, after a valley wide general protest was held by the separatist groups.
Traffic remains suspended for the second day, and all checkpoints in the city are being strictly monitored by the police. Additional police force has been set up along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and all Jammu-bound trucks have been stopped at Srinagar.
Authorities postponed all the Kashmir University and board exams scheduled for Monday. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed blamed the death on “politics of hate and intolerance” and said that it was posing a “grave challenge” to the nation.
Text: Mukhtar Ahmad/Rediff.com. Photographs: Umar Ganie/Rediff.com
