SRINAGAR: Shops, businesses and schools remained closed in much of Indian Kashmir yesterday due to a strike by separatists to press for the implementation of a UN resolution requesting a referendum over the disputed region.
The past two months have witnessed some of the biggest anti-India protests in Kashmir since a separatist revolt against New Delhi’s rule broke out nearly 20 years ago. The strike also closed banks and most of the government offices in major towns in the Kashmir Valley, where roads were deserted except for security patrols.
Police in Srinagar used tear gas and batons to quell scores of stone-throwing protesters shouting “We want freedom.” The strike coincided with United Nations Day. In 1948, the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for a referendum for Kashmir to determine whether the Himalayan region should be part of India and Pakistan.
Life in Srinagar, a city of 1.1 million people, is frequently disrupted by strikes and protests over separatist causes. “We will never bow to the suppression and occupation of Indian rule, and I think today we should protest and remind the United Nations of its promise,” said Abdul Hamid, a shopkeeper.
Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, chairman of the main separatist alliance, All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, was placed under house arrest to stop him leading a protest, police said. On Thursday, a senior separatist leader, Yasin Malik, was arrested and sent to jail for leading a rally urging people to boycott forthcoming state elections.
The extended seven-phase poll exercise started in the state yesterday as the authorities issued notification for the first phase of voting. The notification was issued by Gov. N.N. Vohra. “Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in exercise of powers vested in him under sub-section (2) of section 27 of Jammu and Kashmir Representation of People’s Act 1957 and as recommended by the Election Commission of India, has issued notification for holding of assembly elections under phase 1st in 10 constituencies of the state in accordance with the provisions of the said Act and of the rules and orders made there under,” an official statement said.
