After two days of relaxation, Kashmir Monday observed shutdown again on the call of joint resistance leadership. Most of the shops and business establishments remained shut. In Lal Chowk Srinagar, vendors set up stalls and were selling winter stuff while private and some public transport could be seen plying. Educational institutions remained closed.
Kashmir remained abuzz on Saturday and Sunday on the full-day relaxation call announced by the joint resistance leadership.
However, in some areas on Monday, shops remained open for entire day which included Sanatnagar, Pandrethan, Sonwar and Athwajan in uptown. Reports from old Srinagar said that complete shutdown was observed while as few vendors could be seen selling fruit and winter clothes.
Reports said that inter-district cabs plied normally and there were traffic jams at various points which include Pantha Chowk on Srinagar-Jammu highway and HMT-Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway.
Late evening reports said that unknown persons hurled stones at vehicles on Wanabal-Rangreth road near Railway bridge.
Reports from various district headquarters said that shops remained closed while private and public transport plied. Reports said that in Tral area of Pulwama district of South Kashmir, youth took to streets and started hurling stones at private vehicles for plying during strike.
Earlier, JKLF chief Muhammad Yasin Malik addressed gathering at main chowk Tral. Soon after Malik left the place, youth stoned private vehicles for defying strike call. Reports said that more than a dozen private vehicles and bikes were damaged by the agitated youth. “Youth pelted stones on the vehicles smashing their windowpanes. They also damaged motor-cycles. Besides, Jammu Kashmir Bank building was attacked with stones and its windowpanes were smashed,” they said.
Meanwhile, reports from north Kashmir’s Bandipora district said that clashes erupted in Gulshan Chowk area between government forces and youth. Witnesses said that a police vehicle had slipped into a drain near Gulshan Chowk and in the meantime some youths attacked the vehicle by hurling stones on it. They said that police personnel inside the vehicle fired some shots in air to disperse the youth, triggering clashes. Youth, according to witnesses, hurled stones and bricks at the forces who responded by firing teargas and sound shells to disperse them. There were no reports of any injuries.
Kashmir has been witnessing unrest and shutdown after killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. At least 96 people have been killed, more than 13,000 injured and over 8000 arrested in the Valley during last over four months of unrest.
The separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation, are giving weekly protest and shutdown calendars since July 9. In the last protest calendar issued by them on Wednesday last, they had announced two full day breaks on weekends. It was after 133 days of shutdown that normalcy returned briefly in Valley on Saturday and Sunday during which markets were abuzz with activities and public transport was also back on the roads.
