Govt thwarts Eidgah rally

Authorities imposed strict curbs on the movement of people in most of Downtown Monday to prevent them and separatist leaders assemble at martyrs’ graveyard Eidgan on the death anniversary of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone who were killed 12 years apart on this day.  

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik had called for a shutdown and appealed people to assemble at Eidgah for taking a pledge to take the ‘ongoing movement for self-determination’ forward, to protect the mission of ‘martyrs’ and pay tributes to slain leaders. 

   

The old town parts of Srinagar were under a government lockdown for the third day running, enforced with heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces in SafaKadal, MaharajGunj, Rainawari, Nowhatta, and Khanyar. 

Rolls of concertina wire were used to block roads and lanes to keep people across the thickly populated areas at bay. 

“No one was allowed to move on the streets. Whosoever tried, they were pushed back by the forces,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, a resident of Nowhatta.

Rest of the Kashmir valley observed a near-total shutdown with schools, colleges and universities closed as well.  

Authorities kept Geelani and Mirwaiz under house arrest while Malik continued to be confined to Kotthibagh police station where he was detained on Thursday. 

Half a dozen other top resistance leaders including Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, GhulamNabiSumji, Muhammad Ashraf Laya, Engineer Hilal War, MukhtarWazar, Javaid Mir were also put under house arrest.

Angry about the restrictions and curbs Chairman Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq took to twitter crticising the government action, saying the commitment to “freedom from occupation runs deep in the heart of each one of us.” 

“The Nation today joins to pay glowing tributes to the peoples leader #Shaheed-E-MillatMirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, #ShaheedEHurriyat Abdul Gani Lone and the #61Martyrs of #Hawal Massacre on their Martyrdom anniversary,” Umar wrote. 

“The rulers will not allow us to collectively commemorate this day.”

However, according to sources, Imam and Khateeb of Jamia Masjid Srinagar, Syed Ahmed Naqshbandi popularly known as Imam-e-Hai, managed to reach Eidgah along with nearly a dozen activists of Awami Action Committee (AAC). 

Police later stopped him near historic Aali Masjid preventing him to reach the martyr’s graveyard. A witness said some activists managed to give police a slip and laid floral wreaths on the Mirwaiz’s grave.

Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, father of the incumbent Mirwaiz was killed by unknown gunmen on May 21, 1990. Government forces fired at his funeral and massacred 60. At least 200 were also wounded in the firing that day which has come to be deeply etched in the Kashmiri psyche. 

Twelve years later, in 2002 during the Mirwaiz’s death anniversary function at Eidgah, a prominent leader of his time Abdul Gani Lone was fatally shot by unknown gunmen, again suspected to be militants like in the case of the former.

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