SRINAGAR: The army was called in Srinagar to assist the police and paramilitary forces was placed under curfew following the killing of Ashfar Majid an KLF area commander in an alleged police encounter. The people wanted to pay homage to him at the Idgah near here.
The Idgah was cordoned off the Idgah where the body of Ashfaq Majid was to be buried. The people tried to break the cordon provoking the police to open fire killing 10 people on the spot.
Militant organizations have urged the people to assemble at the Idgah the moment curfew was lifted.
Meanwhile Jag Mohan the governor said things were moving towards a better direction following the recent arrest of over 300 militants.
But, no time frame could be defined at this stage for return of normalcy to the Kashmir valley, he said.
Jag Mohan told journalists here that information system in the state had been strengthened and the administrative machinery was now in a better shape.
The governor flew into the capital Sunday and held a series of meetings with the prime minister and home minister.
The governor listed a series of steps the state government had taken to assert the authority of the administration and said a dusk to dawn curfew was being imposed in the five Km belt along the Indo Pak border and coordination between various agencies had been strengthened to make them more effective.
He regretted that some people were spreading highly exaggerated death tolls in the Kashmir valley.
He said since taking over as governor earlier this year and up to March 28, 43 innocent people had fallen to bullets 33 people died in the firing by army guards and 61 people had died in cross firing, or when the security forces fired in self defence while enforcing law and order.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 6, 1990
