Just a few herds are penned at the sheep market at Eidgah here on Sunday, when Daer Arfa, the day before Eid eve, passed off without joy. For the festival, no sheep stalls have come up at the market as the Valley gets caught in violence every day in the current spell of unrest.
During Eid last year, the young and old assembled all day at the four-hectare market, the largest in Kashmir, to buy sheep for sacrifice. What rankles the mind of many is that three victims of the current turmoil were laid to rest only days ago in the city’s biggest “martyrs’ graveyard” in the vicinity.
“We bring in more than 1.5 lakh sheep on Eid every year. As leaders have called for austerity, sales are down by 90 per cent this year. Many have decided not to offer sacrifice, while others who would buy five sacrificial sheep have settled for one only,” Khazir Muhammad, president of the Retail Mutton Owners’ Association, told The Hindu . “Who will distribute the mandatory meat slice among relatives as a curfew is likely and stone-throwing is rampant?”
March to U.N. office
Separatist leaders and militant groups have asked people to celebrate with austerity. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, separatist leaders, have called for a march towards the United Nations office here after Eid prayers, fuelling speculation that the government may not allow customary prayers in places such as Eidgah, Hazratbal and the TRC grounds.
Sources said the senior separatists might not be allowed to participate in Eid congregations. Mobile telephony would be barred, and additional troops had been rushed in.
As many as 78 lives have been lost and nearly 10,000 injured as street protests enter the 65th day in Kashmir. The Centre is planning to impose Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which bans the assembly of more than four people.
“I participated in two funeral processions — of a youth from Chattabal area in Srinagar, who died in pellet firing, and a 12-year-old boy from Parimpora area, who drowned in the Jhelum as security forces chased a group during a demonstration. The graves and the memory are too fresh to celebrate Eid this year,” Jamsheed Akhtar of the volatile Safa Kadal area said.
Many seminaries and orphanages have requested people to pay in advance for animal sacrifice in absentia. They will distribute meat among the needy and raise money from sheep hide for those who lost their livelihood in the unrest.
Most bakeries are closed in response to the call for a shutdown by separatists.
“I will sell limited numbers of eatables from my residence. Children who got no chance to buy new clothes this Eid can at least relish them. This is the grimmest-ever Eid I am witnessing,” said a bakery owner in the Lal Bazaar area.
