In a first of its kind incident ever since Article 370 of the Constitution was revoked, militants fired at a shopkeeper in Parim Pora jurisdiction of Srinagar on Thursday, 29 August, following which the civilian succumbed to his injuries in a local hospital.
This comes amid the news of Army Chief General Bipin Rawat planning to visit Srinagar on Friday to review the security situation in Kashmir.
The deceased, identified as 62-year-old Ghulam Mohammed, who owned a shop at Parim Pora, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar Haseeb Mughal told The Quint.
The firing is reported to have taken place around 9 pm on Thursday.
Parim Pora is located at the juncture of four districts – Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipur and Srinagar.
The SSP added, “Three youths came on a motorcycle and pumped bullets into the civilian when he was closing his shop.”
The police said that out of the three men, two were masked.
The police further stated that the people in the locality said that he was shot because he kept his shop open in the evening.
An FIR has been filed and the police are investigating the matter to find out if the shop was the actual reason behind the killing.
Silence Deepens As Security Beefed Up
There is a civil curfew in the Parim Pora area. Some shops open in the morning, while others open in the evening, Mughal confirmed.
The SSP added that while there are no commercial vehicles on the road, several private vehicles can still be seen.
CRPF personnel are still stationed in the area, and there are no signs of any restrictions being lifted as of yet, the SSP further said. After the incident, all the shops in the area have been closed, security has been strengthened and police have been on the lookout for the militants.
In the Parim Pora area, there are prisons for ISJK, which is the local wings of the Islamic State. A militant Mughese Mir, who was considered to be an important commander, was killed in the same area two years ago.
The police stated, “We believe that this is the handwork of militants but our investigation is still underway.”
This comes two days after suspected militants kidnapped two members of the nomadic Gujjar community from a forested area in the Pulwama district. A senior officer told The Quint that the two men were later shot dead.
In another incident, on 26 August, stone-pelters killed a truck driver, Noor Mohammed Dar in Kashmir’s Bijbehara area.
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