After Baramulla youth is shot, Omar breaks down: 'What will I tell people?'

An "angry and sad" Omar Abdullah broke down in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, wondering what answer he would give people, after Rashtriya Rifles soldiers allegedly shot dead a 24-year-old youth in Baramulla Tuesday.

The alleged "unprovoked" and "indiscriminate" shooting, which left one other person with gunshot wounds in his foot, triggered massive street protests across Kashmir. As fears of violence rose, the government pulled the plug on mobile Internet services in the Valley.

"What will I tell the people... that it is for this that we have been upholding the national flag?" the chief minister said in the House. "I am asking myself why, why, there was firing on a procession... on a procession at which according to my information, no militant was present and no one from which opened fire?... Why, for what, and for whom?"

Tahir Ahmad Sofi, who had a postgraduate degree in social work, was shot dead by soldiers who were provoked by taunts and hoots, witnesses to the incident said. They described the firing as "indiscriminate", and claimed that the forces reacted even though no protests were ongoing.

"In the morning, soldiers patrolled the Kaker Hamam neighbourhood of old Baramulla town. The youth hooted at them. This angered the soldiers and they barged into homes and broke doors and window panes," said Irfan Ahmad, who said he was witness to the incidents. "Minor protests in the neighbourhood followed, but they subsided soon. However, in the afternoon, they (the soldiers) returned to the area, and were teased again by the youth. They then opened fire," Ahmad said.

Doctors said Sofi was hit in the head and chest. Another youth, Mohammad Abass, was wounded in the foot.

Baramulla deputy commissioner Khwaja Ghulam Ahmad told The Indian Express, "There was no law and order problem in the town. It was absolutely normal. This action (firing) is uncalled for."

... contd.

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