J&K urges tourists ‘not to panic’, helplines are set up
Placed under house arrest, separatist leaders say forces given free hand to kill innocent Kashmiris
With hundreds of tourists from different parts of India and elsewhere holidaying in Kashmir, the authorities on Sunday set up exclusive helplines for them in view of the tension after the killing of militant commander Sabzar Ahmed Bhat.
Urging tourists “not to panic”, state tourism director Mehmood Ahmed Shah said the tourist police and officers had been deployed to help visitors. He said the situation in Srinagar was “normal” and they can move easily to “tourist destinations”.
The security forces in riot gear are enforcing a lockdown in summer capital Srinagar and other major towns of Kashmir Valley as part of tough measures taken by the authorities to contain widespread protests and violence triggered by the killing of Hizbul-Mujahideen commander Subzar Ahmed Bhat in an encounter in Tral area of southern Pulwama district on Saturday.
Elsewhere in the Muslim-majority Valley, life has been brought to a standstill due to a two-day strike from Sunday called by an alliance of key separatist leaders-Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. It has also asked the people to march on Tral on Tuesday to show solidarity with the families of Bhat and his accomplice Faizan Muzaffar, who was also killed during the 16hour-long gun battle in Soimoh village of Tral.
While most of the separatist leaders and prominent activists have been placed under house arrest, Malik was on Sunday picked up from his Maisuma residence here and taken to Srinagar’s central prison. While being arrested, he told reporters, “We are not even allowed to mourn killings of martyrs. The Indian (security) forces have been given free hand to kill innocent Kashmiris”.
Malik had on Saturday relocated to Tral where he, while addressing the mourners, paid “homage” to slain militants.
The 30-year-old Bhat had succeeded Burhan Wani, the popular Internetsavvy commander of Kashmir’s frontline indigenous militant outfit, whose killing by security forces on July 8 last year had pushed the Kashmir Valley into worst turmoil in decades. In the fivemonth long turbulence more than eighty civilians and two policemen had died and thousands injured, mainly in security forces’ firings and other actions, besides leaving behind a trail of destruction of infrastructure. Also, over 4,000 security personnel were injured in stone-pelting incidents and mob violence.
On Sunday, thousands of people attended the funeral of Bhat near his native village Rathsuna in Tral, 36-km south of here, despite security restrictions. The people from dozens of neighbouring villages defied restrictions to relocate to Tral, reports said, adding that in view of the swelling crowds Namaz-e-Jinaza or funeral prayer was held seven times. Bhat was laid to rest at a local “martyrs” cemetery amid chanting of pro-aazadi and proIslam slogans, the witnesses said.
Earlier on Saturday, at least, one person was killed and scores others were injured in clashes with security forces as many parts of the Valley erupted following Bhat’s killing.