Srinagar, July 08 : A complete shutdown was observed in Kashmir Valley on Monday, marking the third death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani, who was killed in an encounter with government forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on this day in 2016.
Reports reaching said that the shops and other business establishments remained closed along with schools and colleges while traffic remained off the roads with exception to some private vehicles.
Authorities had clamped curfew and sealed all the entry and exit points leading towards the home town of the slain militant commander. The graveyard at Shariefabad where Burhan is buried was also sealed off.
In Srinagar’s old city including areas falling under the jurisdiction of police stations Nowhatta, MR Gunj, Safa Kadal, Khaniyar and Rainawari, restrictions were imposed by the authorities. The strengthened posse of police and paramilitary forces remained deployed in these areas where barricades were erected to bar movement of people in a bid to prevent protests.
In the aftermath of the killing of Burhan Muzzafar Wani on July 8, 2016 in Bemdoora of Anantnag district, intense clashes broke out which resulted in the death of around 100 civilians while at least 10,000 got injured including 4,000 people who were blinded permanently or partially by the use of pellet gunshots.
Meanwhile, mobile Internet services were suspended in South Kashmir districts—Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian— while speed was reduced in Srinagar and elsewhere in Valley, as a ‘precautionary measure’.
In response to the shutdown call given by the joint Hurriyat leadership, the authorities had put Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Hilal War under house arrest. Part JKLF Chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik is currently in Tihar Jail.
Meanwhile, the annual Amarnath Yatra was suspended from Jammu as a precautionary measure, while convoys of security forces were also not allowed to move on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the only surface link connecting Kashmir Valley. (GNS)
