Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 9: Normal life in Kashmir valley was today affected by shutdown on the third hanging anniversary of 2001 Parliament attack convict, Mohammad Afzal Guru, while restrictions were clamped in parts of Srinagar to prevent any trouble.
Shops and commercial establishments including banks and petrol pumps were closed in city here while the public transport also remained partially off the roads. The district administration in order to maintain law and order imposed curfew-like restrictions in the areas falling under six police stations of the city.
The restrictions were imposed in Maharaj Gunj, Safa Kadal, Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari and Maisuma police station areas of the City. Hundreds of police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) security personnel were deployed in these areas to enforce the restrictions. The security forces had laid barbed wires and erected mobile bunkers on various junctions and bridges in city parts.
A senior police officer told Excelsior that the situation remained peaceful throughout the day in City but there were incidents of stone-pelting on security forces in the evening at Saraf Kadal, Habba Kadal, Parimpora and Maisuma areas. “The stone-pelters were chased away while the security forces also fired teargas shells to restore the order. No one was injured during the standoff,” he said.
Police in Sopore area of Baramulla district, which is the hometown of Afzal Guru, had placed in stringent security arrangements to prevent any incident of violence. Hundreds of police and CRPF personnel were deployed in the restive Sopore and its adjoining areas but there was no incident of violence even as scores of people went to the ancestral house of Guru at Doabgah village.
The shutdown was observed in all other towns and villages of the Valley including Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama, Kupwara and Ganderbal. The situation, however, remained peaceful, the police official said.
Police have already detained over a dozen separatist leaders and activities including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik to prevent them from leading protest rallies seeking mortal remains of Guru and militant ideologue, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat as both lie buried in Tihar Jail of Delhi.
The separatists have also called for a shutdown on February 11, the day when Maqbool Bhat was hanged in the year 1984, at Tihar Jail while the district authorities here are expected to impose curbs that day as well.
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