Normal life remained crippled in Kashmir Valley for the third consecutive day on Tuesday as shutdown call by the separatists coupled with tight security arrangements by the authorities forced majority of the people to remain confined to their homes.
All separatist groups including militant grouping United Jehad Council had called for three-day shutdown starting February 9 to commemorate the death anniversaries of Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru, two Kashmiri separatists who were hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 1984 and 2013 respectively. While Guru was secretly hanged and buried inside the jail premises on February 9 last year, Bhat was executed 30 years ago on February 11. Since the inception of armed insurgency in Kashmir in early 1990s, the separatist groups have sponsored a shutdown on this day.
The separatists demand return of mortal remains of the two Kashmiris for “decent burial” at their homeland. The authorities have never responded to these demands. The police took six Jammu and Kashmir liberation Front (JKlF) activists into custody when they attempted to stage a demonstration in cordoned-off Maisuma locality. Maisuma, one of the most volatile pockets of capital Srinagar houses the headquarters of a faction of JKlF and residence of its chief Yasin Malik. Malik and his colleagues were taken into custody on Sunday.
Most of the separatist leaders and activists have been arrested or put under house-arrest by the authorities to prevent law and order situation in the Valley. Even as the authorities refrained from formally announcing curfew in any part of the valley, the residents said that the restrictions curfew-like in several localities. Thousands of police and paramilitary men were fanned out in capital Srinagar and major towns while vital roads were sealed with barbed wires.
Traffic was visible on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and few private vehicles plied in the civil lines and uptown areas of Srinagar. However, restrictions were harsh in the volatile old parts of Srinagar. The business activity came to a grinding halt in the Valley for the past three days and attendance in government offices on working days was almost negligible.