A separatist-sponsored shutdown crippled normal life in Kashmir Valley for the third consecutive day on Wednesday as death anniversaries of two Kashmiri separatists Afzal Guru and Muhammad Maqbool Bhat were commemorated. Guru was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on February 9 two years ago, while Bhat was hanged in the same jail on February 11 in 1984. Separatists have been calling for shutdown on Bhat’s anniversary since armed insurgency erupted in Kashmir in 1989. He is projected as one of the founders of armed rebellion in Kashmir. The JKlF militants shot dead Neil Kanth Ganjoo, a sessions judge who had passed verdict against Bhat in a murder case.
Shops, business establishments and offices remained closed while Kashmir University postponed examinations due to the shutdown call. The shutdown began on Monday with separatists’ call on the anniversary of Afzal Guru who was put to gallows in Tihar Jail in 2013 for his involvement in Parliament Attack. Relatives of Bhat and Afzal Guru demand return of their mortal remains.