Kashmir unrest: Fresh clashes between students, police in Srinagar

J&K govt earlier in the day ordered to open all colleges and higher secondary schools

Fresh clashes took place between the students and security personnel here on Monday as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while expressing her concern over the prevailing unrest urged the Centre to follow the footsteps of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Violence erupted after the students of S P Higher Secondary school marched and staged a protest on the busy Maulana Azad road here.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government earlier in the day ordered to open all colleges and higher secondary schools.

Mufti , who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day demanded that the ruling dispensation at the Centre must follow the footsteps of Vajpayee and reach out to the disillusioned and angry youth so as to restore a peaceful atmosphere for governance.

Talking to the media after the meeting out the Prime Minister's official 7, Lok Kalyan Marg on the national capital, Mehbooba said a conducive atmosphere is required for talks and governance.

"We must start from where Vajpayee ji left... Modi ji has repeatedly said that he would follow the footsteps of Vajpayee ji, whose policy was of reconciliation, not confrontation. There is no option but to talk," she asserted.

The meeting comes in the wake of recent incidents of violence, including the clashes between security forces and civilians during the Srinagar by-elections.

Prime Minister Modi had earlier on Sunday urged all the Chief Ministers to take care of the students from Jammu and Kashmir in their respective states. His assertion came after Mehbooba raised the issue following assault of six Kashmiri students of Mewar University in Rajasthan by some locals.