Shutdown, Restrictions Continue On 2nd Day In Kashmir

Srinagar: The shutdown against the raids by National Investigation Agency on residences of top resistance leaders including Muhammad Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, mass arrest of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists, and “attempts to tinker with” Article 35-A continued in Kashmir for the second day running on Thursday
The two-day call for shutdown (for Wednesday and Thursday) was given by the JRL comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik.
The JRL call evoked a complete response across the Valley with shops and other business establishment remaining closed while movement of public traffic was off the road.
In Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, all commercial establishments and private institutions were closed while in the old city, the police imposed restrictions under section 144, which bars assembly of more than four people at a time, amid heavy deployment of government forces.
Reports said at Mahraj Gunj, Safa Kadal, Khanyar, Nowhatta and Rainawari, police and paramilitary CRPF were deployed in large numbers to prevent any protests, though no curfew was imposed there officially.
However, there was some movement of people from one place to another as petrol pumps ran dry for three days and long queues were seen outside all petrol refilling stations across the Valley.
Reports of the complete shutdown were also received from southern districts of Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag and also from the northern districts of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora. (GNS