SRINAGAR: An uneasy calm prevailed in the Kashmir Valley as an indefinite curfew was imposed on the Kashmir Valley yesterday, a day before separatist leaders had planned to hold a sit-in here.
All the 10 districts of the Kashmir Valley were brought under the curfew to prevent the proposed sit-in at city center Lal Chowk. Kashmiris were stirred out of sleep by pre-dawn harsh blare of loudspeakers mounted on police jeeps announcing the imposition of an indefinite curfew. “Those defying curfew restrictions would be dealt with sternly,” the announcement said.
There were reports of a small protest in north Kashmir’s Baramulla old town area but the protesters later dispersed peacefully. But the situation, according to official sources, remained by and large peaceful throughout the valley.
“The situation remained peaceful in the entire valley, as curfew restrictions continued without any relaxation,” a police officer told IANS.
Hours before the imposition of curfew, police swooped on the pro-Independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) headquarters in Maisuma locality near Lal Chowk and detained Mohammad Yasin Malik, JKLF chairman.
Malik was heading the committee charged with making arrangements for today’s city center, Lal Chowk rally called by the separatists’ joint Coordination Committee. He had yesterday visited the various localities around Lal Chowk to finalize the arrangements.
According to JKLF sources, while Malik was arrested from his Maisuma residence in the city late Saturday night, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Abdul Ghani Bhat, Bilal Lone and Sajad Gani Lone of the moderate separatist Hurriyat Conference were placed under house arrest.
Hard-liner Syed Ali Geelani, who was admitted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday after he complained of chest pain, was “stable”, according to doctors.
The state administration started massive deployment of army, paramilitary and police in the entire valley around midnight Saturday night and used prefabricated iron gates and razor fitted wire coils to seal localities around Lal Chowk.
Meanwhile, three guerrillas, including a top commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant outfit, were killed in two separate gunbattles with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, according to the police.
Abrar Ahmad alias Abu Ubaid, one of the most wanted Lashkar militants, was killed late Saturday in Targain, a heavily forested and hilly area in the Rajouri district, north of Jammu.Abrar, a former Hizbul Mujahedeen commander who later joined the Lashkar to head its Rajouri district unit, was a byword for terror in the hilly areas, the police said. He had masterminded several killings and bombings in the area, they added.
One AK-47 rifle, a magazine, a wireless set, a mobile set (damaged) and one diary were recovered from the possession of the slain terrorist.
In another operation, the police said a cordon was laid, on a tip-off, around a suspected hide-out in Marha Kheer area of the Udhampur district, about 80 km from Jammu.
— With input from agencies
