A day ahead of counting of votes in Kashmir, a daylong shutdown to protest against spree of arrests during the polling process crippled normal life as separatists demanded immediate release lest they announce a long-drawn protest calendar.
Traffic was lean on roads and educational institutions remained shut while Government offices registered skeletal attendance on Thursday. Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani had called for the shutdown to protest against recent spree of arrests during the polling process in the Valley.
Police said that the arrests were made to stop separatists’ methods to hamper polling process that ended on May 7 when Baramulla and ladakh constituencies went to polls in last of the five-phased polling in the embattled State.
Most of the youngsters and former militants were taken into custody to prevent incident of stone pelting, police said.
At least two youngsters in Pulwama and Shopian districts were booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), declared by the Amnesty International as ‘lawless law’ that allows authorities to book any individual without trail for a maximum of two years.
Most of the separatist leaders were detained in police stations or inside their residences to prevent their movement. The separatist groups had called for a poll boycott and several attacks by suspected militants on elected village representatives and polling staff contributed to low voter turnout in several areas.
Meanwhile, traders in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town called off their three-day shutdown after police released 15 youngsters held in the town on allegations of stone-pelting. Police also released at least 14 teenagers who had been arrested by the police on charges of stone-pelting in and around the volatile Sopore town during past four weeks.
Superintendent of Police Sopore Abdul Qayoom said the youngsters were released after police counselled them on the negative effects of indulging in stone-pelting. “We conducted counselling programme for these youth and we hope in future they will not indulge in stone-pelting,” he said.
Police have arrested several youngsters for uploading messages and statuses on social networking sites, which allegedly had separatist overtones. Several youngsters alleged that they were beaten up in the custody.