On Tuesday, angry protesters in south Kashmir’s Shopian district threw stones in protest against the acquisition of a local resident’s land in Hermain village, according to a local news agency Kashmir News Trust (KNT). An elderly resident reportedly suffered cardiac arrest and died on the spot.
The elderly resident was identified as 75-year-old Abdul Salam Thokar, a resident of Padderpora in Shopian. Eyewitnesses told the KNT that an acquisition team of the local administration, led by the Tehsildar and the Block Development Officer in Hermain had arrived in the village to take possession of a plot of land to convert it into a sports ground.
Local residents, however, threw stones on the acquisition team. An unnamed official of the local administration told KNT that they were unaware of the death of an elderly resident but confirmed that local residents had expressed resentment when authorities had gone to village to take possession of the land.
