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Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR: With some of the separatists spending their day under “house arrest” and the Police and security forces intensifying frisking and search operations, Kashmir valley on Wednesday observed a shutdown against continued bloodshed in Sopore.
The call for a Valley-wide bandh had been issued jointly by the two factions of the separatist conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, respectively. JKLF chief Yasin Malik and Chairman of Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmad Shah had also supported the call separately.
Six civilian killings in Sopore in less than a month have united the separatists who have started blaming the “Indian secret agencies” for the assassinations. Initially Geelani and others remained tight-lipped and mute spectators to the killing of the two civilians associated with mobile telephony. However, they called for the strike on Wednesday and a mass march to Sopore on Friday following the killing of four more persons who included two activists of Geelani’s Tehreek-e-Hurriyat.
The authorities placed some of the separatists, like Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, under “house arrest” as a precautionary measure. Following minor clashes between Police/CRPF and the unruly groups in Sopore and downtown Srinagar, Police pulled down the Pakistani national flags outside Jamia Masjid and intensified patrolling.
Reports said that the situation was tense but under control. Thin groups of youths lobbed stones on Police and security forces at a few spots in Sopore and Srinagar downtown. They dispersed after retaliation from Police.