Kashmir observed complete protest shutdown on Monday against the killing of 13 militants and 4 civilians by the government forces on Sunday.
The strike was called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik.
The JRL has extended the shutdown until April 3 and called a protest march to Shopian on April 4 to express solidarity with the families of the victims.
“On Wednesday (April 4), the entire Resistance and Hurriyat leadership will move towards Shopian to express solidarity with the people and offer condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones. Leadership will also address a public rally in Shopian,” the leadership said. “People should peacefully protest Shopian killings at their local mosques after Zuhr prayers.”
The authorities had put in place severe restrictions in sensitive parts of Kashmir to stop people from staging protests. Strict curfew was imposed in parts of South Kashmir. Mobile internet and railway service remained suspended throughout Kashmir. In downtown Srinagar, heavy deployment of forces was in place to prevent protests.
Traders assembled at LalChowk here this morning and demonstrated against the killings. Carrying placards that read “Stop Genocide in Kashmir”, the traders under the banner of Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) asked the government to stop the cycle of killings.
Meanwhile, the JRL said that the claims “made by the agencies of the regime” that Hurriyat leaders were now free to move, stand completely exposed as within two days of the announcement they have been again put under an arbitrary house arrest.
“Yasin Malik being has been lodged in Central Jail,” the statement said.
The leadership said that the mayhem in Shopian in which 17 people were killed in one day is “another gory episode of pain, agony and torment that people of Kashmir are repeatedly subjected to over the past 30 years by New Delhi.”
“Kashmir has been turned into a land of massacres and south of Kashmir especially Shopian, Tral, Pulwama, Kulgam, Islamabad (Anantnag) into killing fields drenched in the blood of its young boys,” the leadership said. “This is the same place where the ruling PDP claims people voted for it. But now see the party’s response.”
“More than 200 people have been hit by pellets, many among them in their eyes which can lead to blindness. The scenes at the hospital are heart wrenching as the injured writhing in pain have horrific episodes of forces’ brutality to narrate,” the leadership said. “Houses have been blown up and razed to ground and even the owners have not been spared the bullet and killed. What is equally cruel and inhuman is that local resident Mushtaq Ahmed Thakur was used as a human shield by the Indian forces and was killed.”
The leadership said that there is a deep pain and anger among people as they witness killings of young boys “who feel forced to take up arms as a means of resisting oppression and forcible control over their land.”
“These young boys give up their studies and stake their future because of the lingering Kashmir dispute and the status quo over it due to GoI’s arrogance and stubbornness not to resolve it. And the resulting oppression pushes these young boys to take up arms to liberate their land,” the leadership said. “Military approach to deal with the Kashmir dispute is consuming our next generation which is a matter of grave concern for all of us. Delhi should have by now fully realised that force and might will not deter people from pursuing their just cause even at the cost of their lives.”
“The leadership will have to engage with the dispute and give people their basic right to self determination. The sooner it is done the better it is for the whole region,” they said.
BANIHAL, ADJOINING AREAS OBSERVE SHUTDOWN
A complete shutdown was observed today in several areas of Ramban district in Jammu region against the killing of seventeen persons, including four civilians, in Shopian district of south Kashmir on Sunday. Reports said the shops and the business establishments at highway town of Banihal, Khari, Tethar and Chareel in Ramban remained shut. The local transport too remained off the roads. Contingents of police were deployed to prevent protests. (Inputs by MUHAMMAD TASKEEN)