indian-kashmir-protestSRINAGAR - Violent protests brought normal life to a complete standstill in this Jammu and Kashmir summer capital Wednesday after a missing youth was found murdered in an old city area triggering a fresh wave of violence in an already vitiated atmosphere.

At least 20 people were injured in the fresh violence, which follows the violent stirs over the mysterious rape and murder of two women in a south Kashmir village in May and killing of four protesters in alleged police firing in north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Sopore towns last month.

The body of Asrar Ahmed Dar, 20, a student who was reported missing from uptown Maisuma area since Saturday, was found in Rainawari, a thickly populated area in old Srinagar.

Police said the youth had been apparently murdered with a “sharp edged weapon” as his body bore many injury marks.

City police chief Afadul Mujtaba said Dar was abducted by unidentified people and “murdered”.

“Only a forensic report would tell us about the cause of death but it appears that he has been killed with some sharp edged weapon,” Mujtaba said.

Mystery shrouds the identity of the culprits even as locals blamed police and other security agencies of having picked him up and killing him in custody.

As the news of the youth’s death spread, people took to streets at many places in the uptown and downtown areas of Srinagar and pelted stones to force a shutdown. They damaged vehicles in a parking lot in the city centre.

Protesters set afire two security vehicles, smashed shop-fronts and blocked traffic at many key junctions bringing life to a complete halt in the city.

Tension gripped the entire city as police and central paramilitary forces used tear gas and batons to quell the protesters.

Angry youth shouting anti-India slogans indulged in heavy stone pelting on police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers.

Students of a college where Dar was studying forced closure of shops and businesses in the area.

Students of Kashmir University also held a demonstration inside the campus.

Though terrorist violence in the Kashmir Valley has drastically come down but protests have been raging this summer over alleged rights abuses and killings by security forces.

First it was in south Kashmir’s Shopian where two women, aged 17 and 22, were found dead May 30. Locals allege they were abducted, raped and killed by security forces. A government appointed probe commission is investigating the incident.

After the Shopian incident that sparked valley-wide protests came the violence in Baramulla where a woman last month alleged she was abused by cops in a police station. Police have, however, denied the allegations.

Four protesters were killed in firing allegedly by CRPF men in Baramulla and neighbouring Sopore town. Police have registered murder cases against paramilitary troopers reportedly involved in the firing.