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Bunker-free Srinagar

-The Telegraph

Srinagar’s city centre today turned bunker-free for the first time since militancy erupted two decades ago, but it coincided with a firing incident in which a policeman fell to a militant’s bullet in the old city.

Sukhpal Singh, an assistant sub-inspector, was shot dead from point-blank range at Darish Kadal while on duty at the Baghyas Chattabal post.

A police officer said Singh was drenched in blood when he was shifted to the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital where he died of his injuries.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah said a single militant had fired four rounds at the policeman from his pistol but he refused to call it a shootout. “There was no shootout in downtown,” he tweeted.

The firing took place about 5km from Lal Chowk, where security forces were busy removing a big bunker inside the dilapidated Palladium cinema. A police officer said this was the 43rd bunker removed from Srinagar.

Removal of bunkers is part of a government initiative started in 2010 to reduce the footprint of security forces in the city.

This does not mean that security forces will have no presence in Lal Chowk. They will continue to guard official installations and patrol the area.

The Palladium cinema hall and adjoining structures were extensively damaged in a gunfight in 1991 after which it was taken over by security forces. There have been many militant attacks on it over the years.

Later, Mustafa Kamal, Omar’s uncle and senior National Conference leader, stirred controversy when he claimed that vested interests in the security forces and the rival People’s Democratic Party for the attack.

“They (PDP and some security officials) have been saying that militants are waiting to attack, which is followed by attacks,” he alleged.