India, Srinagar, April 30:  A 40-year-old civilian, who was travelling in a passenger bus in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir died on Friday morning after being hit by a stone pelted by stone throwers, police said.

Stone throwing during protests - Image by : AFP

A police spokesman said at around 08:30 hours some miscreants pelted stones on a passenger bus near a bus stand at Batamaloo in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir. “A 40-year old passenger Shafiq Ahmad Sheikh was hit by a stone. He sustained injuries on head and was rushed to Kashmir’s leading hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival,” he said.

The police spokesman said that a post mortem has been conducted. “We have registered a case under section 302 (murder charge) against the miscreants and launched investigations,” he said.

On February 22 this year, an 11-day old infant died in North Kashmir’s Baramulla area when he fell from his mother’s arms during an attack on a mini-bus by a group of protestors.

There were rumours that the deceased had died of a bullet. “We are awaiting the post mortem report to know the exact cause of his death,” said Nisar Ahmad Sheikh, brother of the deceased.

Meanwhile, the chief minister of the region, Omar Abdullah blamed hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani for the civilian’s death.

“Any right-thinking person would condemn this death unequivocally. This is an unnecessary death brought about by unnecessary timetable of protests announced by Geelani. He is singularly responsible for this death today,” Abdullah told an Indian television channel CNN-IBN.

He said, “It is only the result of Geelani’s Friday calendar of protests that he has announced that this innocent has died. If he (Geelani) he had not announced these protests I can assure you that not stone pelting would have taken place”.

NastionalTurk India Kashmir – Faiz Ahmad