A shutdown sponsored by a faction of Hurriyat Conference crippled normal life in Kashmir Valley on Saturday as authorities imposed restrictions in parts of summer capital Srinagar and kept several leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest.
Mirwaiz’s group had called for shutdown to express resentment against continuation of lease of a swath of land at Tosamaidan in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, used for practice firing by the Army since 1965.
The lease expires on April 18 and the Army has sought its extension. The authorities have not yet taken a decision to renew lease. The locals have started a movement in the area against extension of lease and it has become a major poll issue in the area.
The locals say that the picturesque area has potential for development as a befitting tourist place.Many casualties have taken place in the area due to unexploded shells and mortars lying scattered in the firing range where locals chance upon during cattle grazing and farming.
Traffic was skeletal in capital Srinagar and most of the business establishments and Government offices were shut. Mirwaiz and his colleagues were put under house arrest while thousands of police and paramilitary personnel fanned out in old parts of Srinagar restricted movement of the common people.