Normal life went out of gear in Kashmir Valley on Saturday in response to separatists’ call for shutdown against the Government’s proposals to create separate townships within the Valley to resettle Pandits displaced by insurgency in 1989.
The separatists say that Pandits were welcome to return to their original homes and hearths but resettling them in exclusive and fortified colonies was against the Kashmiri ethos and a conspiracy to engineer communal divide.
Shops, business establishments, banks and educational institutions remained shut and public vehicles were off the roads. Private vehicles plied at various locations while the Kashmir University conducted exams as per schedule.
Police had put barricades to stop entry of people and vehicles into civil lines area of capital Srinagar where JKlF activists had clashed with police on Friday while attempting to hold a sit in. The JKlF chief Yasin Malik has announced to launch hunger strike against the Government’s plans.
Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has clarified that Pandits would be brought back to Kashmir to live with the majority community and there was no plan of ghettoisation. Mufti specifically said that no Isreal like colonies would be set up.
However, separatists went ahead with the shutdown call. Both factions of Hurriyat Conference, militant outfits and non aligned secessionist groups had called for shutdown. The shutdown went off peacefully.