Daily Times

NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday appealed to the people of Held Kashmir to maintain calm so that the situation can normalise in the violence-hit valley.

Chairing a high-level meeting on the situation in Kashmir Valley, where at least 32 people have lost lives in the protests triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, Modi expressed hope that no innocent person should face any kind of inconvenience or loss.

Indian-held Kashmir’s main hospital struggled to treat hundreds of patients wounded in four days of clashes Tuesday, as medics warned that many could lose their eyesight from shotgun injuries.

As the overall death toll from the violence rose to 32, ambulances continued to deliver more victims to Srinagar’s Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) where patients were sometimes forced to share beds.

An administrator said staff had been ordered not to speak to the press but wards were crammed with young boys and men, many of whom had suffered serious eye injuries caused by the firing of pellets by Indian troops.

An AFP correspondent who toured the teeming wards saw two patients to a bed, as doctors worked non-stop. “Doctors are working in operating theatres round-the-clock. We’ve operated on 90 for serious eye injuries since Saturday morning,” said a doctor in SMHS where many volunteers were helping to tend to the injured.

All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik in a joint statement extended the call for strike for another two days. They warned India to stop killing of unarmed people or the situation may take a turn for the worse. They appealed to the international community to play its role in settlement of Kashmir dispute as per relevant resolutions of the United Nations.

A spokesman of the US State Department also expressed concerns over the violence. John Kirby said that the United States was concerned about the violence, which has been widely reported by the US media. “We encourage all sides to make efforts towards finding a peaceful resolution.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on all parties in the valley to exercise ‘maximum restraint’ and address the tense situation there through peaceful means.

“The Secretary-General is closely following the recent clashes in Kashmir,” a statement issued through his spokesman on the situation in the Indian-held Kashmir said. “He (the UN chief) regrets the reported loss of dozens of lives and the injuries to many others,” the statement said.