The Kashmir Valley on Sunday reeled under an undeclared curfew and shutdown on the first anniversary of the execution of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, even as demonstrators clashed with the police in some places and over 500 people were detained on the first day of a three-day strike.
Almost all major towns and district headquarters remained shut as the authorities imposed restrictions on all types of movement. The separatist groups simultaneously enforced a three-day shutdown.
Police sources said more than 250 separatists were detained at different police stations and an equal number of “stone-throwers” had already been taken into custody. While separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Bilal Gani Lone and Maulvi Abbas Ansari were placed under house arrest, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik and MLA Abdul Rashid Sheikh were arrested for violating the prohibitory orders. Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan have been in detention since Thursday.
JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat’s death anniversary falls on February 11. He was hanged at Tihar Jail in Delhi in 1984 after he was convicted in one of the two murder cases filed against him. Guru was also executed in the same jail.
