The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday deployed security forces in Srinagar and other sensitive regions in the state to maintain law and order, the Hindustan Times reported. The state has been tense since Sunday, when 19 people – 12 militants, three Army personnel and four civilians – were killed in three separate gunfights in South Kashmir’s Shopian and Anantnag districts.

The police detained separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq after he tried to defy house arrest and march to Shopian, PTI reported. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the chairperson of the Hurriyat Conference, is also under house arrest while Yasin Malik has been lodged in Srinagar central jail. The three separatist leaders had called for a march to Shopian in solidarity with the families of the civilians killed in the violence.

Educational institutions postponed exams scheduled for Wednesday. Train services remained suspended for the third consecutive day while traffic on the Srinagar-Sonamarg road was also suspended for the second straight day.

Shops and other businesses in Srinagar and other major towns in the Valley remained shut while public transport was off the roads. The government has suspended mobile internet services in four districts in South Kashmir and Ganderbal district in Central Kashmir where a 22-year-old protestor succumbed to bullet wounds on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the police in Ganderbal on Wednesday ordered a departmental inquiry into the killing of Gowhar Ahmed Rather.

The investigation will be headed by the deputy inspector general of Central Kashmir, Global News Service reported. The district administration has ordered a magisterial inquiry, and the report will be submitted within 20 days.

Rather’s death sparked protests, prompting authorities to issue prohibitory orders on Tuesday. Ten policemen were also injured in the violence.