Miscreants pelted stones leading to 'widespread unrest' on Aug 9; forces didn't fire: MHA

The Home Ministry said on Tuesday that "miscreants" resorted to unprovoked stone-pelting against security personnel at a Srinagar outskirts on August 9, leading to "widespread unrest", but no bullet was fired against the protesters.

The incident took place at Soura in Srinagar amidst a government-imposed restrictions on communications and movement of people, following abrogation of special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.

"Stories in media on a said incident in Soura region of #Srinagar. On 09/08, miscreants mingled with people returning home after prayers at a local mosque. They resorted to unprovoked stone pelting against law enforcement forces to cause widespread unrest (sic)," a home ministry spokesperson said in one of a series of tweets.

The law-enforcement authorities showed restraint and tried to maintain law and order, she said.

"It is reiterated that no bullets have been fired in #JammuAndKashmir since the development related to #Article370," the spokesperson said.

The security clampdown is imposed after the Union government on August 5 stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution, and bifurcated it into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

On August 10, the ministry had said that there have been a few stray protests in the Kashmir Valley in the past few days against the scrapping of special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and none of these involved a crowd of more than 20 people.