Indefinite curfew continues in Shopian

Shopian town in Jammu and Kashmir remained calm but curfew bound for the fifth day Sunday even as a shutdown called by separatists hit life in Srinagar for a second day.

Curfew was imposed in Shopian after a driver identified as Rafiq Ahmad, 28, was killed allegedly the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Gagaran village Sep 11.

His family alleged that Rafiq was going to his in-laws' house when he was killed at Gagaran by CRPF troopers.

CRPF officials insist that their men did not fire at Rafiq nor were CRPF personnel deployed on the streets Sep 11.

However, following a public outcry over Rafiq's killing, the Jammu and Kashmir government ordered the CRPF camp in Gagaran to move out and replaced it with the state armed police.

Four people were killed in CRPF firing at the same place Sep 7.

While three of those killed turned out to be unarmed civilians, the exact identity of the fourth slain person previously claimed to have been a militant is still being ascertained by police.

Meanwhile, a separatist called shutdown against these incidents affected life in the summer capital Srinagar for a second day Sunday.

Although shops, businesses, banks, educational institutions and post offices are closed here because of Sunday, public transport went off the roads due to the shutdown.

Private transport, however, plied in many roads in Srinagar and elsewhere in the Kashmir Valley.