The normal life remained disrupted in Kashmir Valley on Thursday in response to a shutdown called by an amalgamation of separatist groups supporting demand to return body of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, hanged and buried in Tihar Jail on February 9.
The shutdown, once-in-a-week affair, was less effective as compared to previous calls as traffic was near normal on roads, Government offices functioned normally and there were less incidents of stone-pelting.
The Mutahida Majlis-e-Mushawarat (MMM) or joint advisory council, was formed by both factions of Hurriyat Conference, JKlF, Kashmir High Court Bar Association and Dukhtaran-e-Millat to spearhead a campaign supporting return of bodies of Afzal Guru and JKlF founder Maqbool Bhat, who have been executed and buried in Tihar Jail.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has categorically rejected possibility of returning Guru’s body despite Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s plea in this regard. Shinde has, however, offered to permit Guru’s family to visit his grave inside the jail premises to offer fateha (special prayer), which the family refused to endorse.
The MMM is issuing weekly schedule of protests including sit-ins, online campaigns and once-in-a-week shutdown. The shutdown day’s disruption in businesses and loss to education is compensated by resuming normal work on Sundays.
last Sunday, all private educational institutions functioned normally and business establishments ignored parried labour’s department’s directives to observe a weekly holiday. On Thursday, most of the educational institutions were closed but Kashmir University concluded its marathon of entrance tests for its postgraduate courses. A University spokesman said that 12,000 students appeared in written tests, held in three sessions, for selection in several PG courses.
Significantly, the University has received more than 36000 entrance applications for admission to several of its post graduate courses for the year 2014 against a vacancy of 3000 seats.
The Government offices and banks, busy in financial closing of the year, were also least affected by the shutdown.
The authorities had made elaborate security arrangements in summer capital Srinagar and other sensitive towns as hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel in riot gear manned streets and kept a tight vigil on vehicles and pedestrians.