A grenade hurled by suspected militants at a tourist bus near Dal Gate on Friday missed the target, but killed a shopkeeper and injured three others. Abdul Salam Sheikh, 55, was sitting in his shop when shrapnels of the grenade caught him unawares, wounding him. Five minutes later, he died on way to hospital.

In Sheikh Mohalla, the tiny island neighbourhood of Dal dwellers, Sheikh’s family mourns his death. “He was hit in the head, and shrapnel pierced his left leg. A shopkeeper in the area took him by car to hospital. But he died within five minutes," says Nazir Ahmad, who recently completed his post-graduation in philosophy from Aligarh Muslim University.

But there is no protest on Sheikh's death. No mainstream politician has called on his family to share their pain and no separatist has announced a strike call to protest his death.