Restrictions in Kashmir on Afzal’s death anniversary
SRINAGAR: Restrictions were imposed in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir on Friday to prevent separatist-called protests on the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru.
Guru was hanged inside the Tihar Jail in Delhi on February 9, 2013, for his role in the 2001 attack. His body was not handed over to his family in north Kashmir’s Sopore town and was instead buried inside the jail premises.
Activists and people in Kashmir have been critical of the hanging.
Despite the restrictions, few youth organised a protest after Friday prayers in Sopore.
Security forces used tear gas shells to disperse the stone pelting mob in the main market of the town.
“There were minor protests. A group of youth threw stones, which was dispersed using tear gas shells,” informed police control room, Sopore.
A small group of separatist activists also protested in the city centre Lal Chowk’s Abi Guzar.
Separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik called for a shutdown to commemorate the death anniversaries of Afzal Guru and another separatist leader Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged in Tihar on February 11, 1984.
They have been reiterating the demands for the return of Guru’s and Bhat’s remains.
A police official said restrictions were imposed on the orders of district magistrates under Section 144 in the downtown (Old City) Srinagar and Sopore.
In areas where the restrictions were not imposed, shops were closed while traffic movement was also minimal.
Police and CRPF manned the roads even as concertina wires and roads blocks were laid to prevent mass movement of people.