Security personnel stand guard behind concertina wire during strict restrictions in Srinagar yesterday. Authorities imposed restrictions across Srinagar as separatists called for a three-day shutdown to demand the remains of Mohamed Afzal Guru who was executed on February 9, 2013.
Most of Jammu and Kashmir was under curfew yesterday to prevent protests marking the first anniversary of the hanging of a local separatist, which fuelled anger last year in the already tense state.
Shops and other businesses were shut and traffic was light in the main city of Srinagar and other towns, as a result of the curfew and after separatist groups called a strike across the state to mark the anniversary.
Mohamed Afzal Guru was executed on February 9 last year and buried inside Tihar Jail in Delhi after being convicted over a deadly raid on the parliament in 2001 that left ten people dead.
Guru always insisted he was innocent and protesters in Kashmir have often accused the police of framing him.
Fearing the anniversary will reignite protests, authorities have shut down mobile Internet services in major populated areas, and thousands of police and paramilitary forces were patrolling most roads, said a senior police officer.
Although service providers such as BSNL, Airtel, Aircel, Idea and Reliance remained tight-lipped about the suspension of services, official sources said Internet access on mobile phones and dongle appliances had been suspended temporarily.
Broadband and fixed-line facilities, however, continue to be operational in the Kashmir Valley.
“We were told by patrolling police officers in the morning to remain inside,” Abdul Hafeez, a resident of Srinagar, said.
Political groups opposed to Indian rule in the state have called for a three-day strike beginning yesterday to press their demand for the return of Guru’s remains to his family.
Groups have also demanded the return of the remains of Maqbool Bhat, a founder of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), from the same prison.
The February 11, 1984 anniversary of the hanging of Bhat is usually marked by attempts to organise large rallies and a general strike.
Police detained JKLF leader Yasin Malik when he and a few dozen supporters defied restrictions and tried to stage a protest near the main square in Srinagar, said senior police superintendent Amit Kumar.
“He (Malik) has been taken into preventive custody,” Kumar said, adding that independent lawmaker Abdul Rashid was also briefly detained as he tried to lead a protest march elsewhere in Srinagar.
Ahead of the anniversary of Guru’s execution, police detained more than 200 activists from across the Kashmir Valley, according to separatists and a police officer.
Most separatist leaders were detained in different police stations and the top ones restricted to their houses to prevent them from leading protests, the officer said.
Kashmir has seen a violent secessionist movement over the past two decades in which more than 50,000 people - including civilians, security forces and militants - have died.
Separatist groups have made demands ranging from independence to a merger with Pakistan.
