Normal life in Kashmir was disrupted on Monday with shops and business establishments remaining closed in many places due to a strike called by separatist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.
Stone-pelting broke out in Baramulla town of north Kashmir soon after hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday addressed a gathering there, police said.
Restrictions were imposed in old city areas of Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar on Wednesday to foil separatist marches to the graveyard of martyrs who laid down their lives protesting the autocratic rule of the Dogras in 1931.
Authorities in Kashmir have decided not to allow 'Shab-e-Qadr' and 'Jumat-ul-Vida' congregational prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in Sringar, a move denounced by mainstream and separatist parties.
"We will take part in the talks, which are meant for resolution of the issue," the firebrand leader said.
After a series of raids by the National Investigative Agency on kashmiri separatists over the last two days, the authorities today prevented separatists from holding a meeting at residence of hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Geelani, placing several leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest.
Hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Thursday threatened to launch an agitation after Eid against the plans to construct a road to Amarnath shrine in south Kashmir.
Restrictions were imposed on public movement on early Saturday in areas falling under nine police stations in the old city of Srinagar to scuttle a separatist rally and construction of 'martyr's wall' by the moderate separatist conglomerate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Kashmir is reeling under intense cold wave with minimum temperatures dropping to five degrees below the freezing point. The effect of the cold wave is compounded by equally severe power cuts and freezing of pipes carrying portable water. Mukhtar Ahmen reports.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has accused the Jammu and Kashmir government of outsourcing the handling of the state to security agencies and is treating it as law and order situation than a political one.
Probe agencies have found a common link between money received by Firdous Ahmad Shah, a member of Syed Ali Shah Geelani's hardline Hurriyat Conference, and financiers of 26/11.
Curfew was on Saturday lifted from Kashmir Valley, a week after it was imposed following hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru. "Curfew has been lifted from all the ten districts in the Valley," a police spokesman said.
Questioning Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik's recent decision to share the stage with Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, in Islamabad, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Ram Madhav on Tuesday said the Centre should take due note of this act and take very strong measures to send a message to him and persons of his ilk.
Life across Kashmir was disrupted on Tuesday due to a strike called by separatists over gutting of the 200-year-old Dastageer Sahib shrine in Khanyar area of the city.
Hard-line Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Monday rejected the Truth and Reconciliation Commission proposed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and demanded a United Nations-appointed factfinding mission to probe the unmarked graves in Jammu and Kashmir. "We vehemently reject the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as we do not expect justice from the system which is perpetuating human rights violations in the state," Geelani said.
Rubbishing the interlocutors' report on Kashmir, hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday said their boycott by separatists has been vindicated as the document is like a "dead mouse" found after digging a mountain.
Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front on Friday warned of "consequences" if the Union home ministry's recommendation to the President to reject the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru is implemented. "The responsibility for the consequences of acting in haste on the recommendation of the home ministry on Afzal Guru's mercy petition will rest with the government of India," Mirwaiz said.
Authorities on Monday night imposed curfew across Kashmir Valley to foil the proposed march to Hyderpora called by hard line faction of Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday, officials said in Srinagar.
The Centre does not want to keep the military in Kashmir 'for long' but a decision on removing the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act will be taken only after some time, says Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, condemned the collective punishment being inflicted upon the entire population of valley for pursuing their just cause for the resolution of Kashmir issue.
The NIA is also probing all angles of the funding of separatist leaders.
An aerial survey of the Baltal-Amarnath holy cave route does not reveal any road widening or construction work being undertaken by the Jammu and Kashmir government in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region as alleged by hardline Hurriyat Conference.
A shutdown called by hardline separatist Hurriyat Conference to protest against the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to shift prison inmates from the Valley to outside jails affected normal life in Srinagar on Tuesday.
He also decided to sever ties with the People's Conference.
'Govt of India should stop harping that Kashmir is an integral part of India. They should come out open with their ideas. '
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is not the only one to support Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 'cricket diplomacy' in inviting Pakistan President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to visit India and watch Wednesday's semi-final game between India and Pakistan at Mohali.
Shabir Shah, senior separatist leader and chairman of the Democratic Freedom Party, on Monday laid down some conditions before the DFP joins a front representing all the moderate separatist parties in Kashmir. Shah was responding to the call for unity by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Farooq had asked all separatist parties to unite under the aegis of a common banner.
A youth was killed and three others injured as security forces opened fire in Kupwara district of Kashmir to disperse protesters who were pelting stones on an army camp.
Vohra said he would first meet important people in the legislature and based on those interactions, drwa up a programme for future talks.
Shops and business establishments were closed in summer capital Srinagar and public transport was off the roads in response to the strike called by both groups of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
The youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday attacked Kashmiri separatist Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq's car when he was entering Foreign Correspondent's club in New Delhi to attend a seminar.
Normal life in the Kashmir Valley was severely affected due to a strike call given by hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani against the continued arrests of youths.
Supporters of Mirwaiz took to streets shouting slogans and pelted stones at passing vehicles in the old city areas, stronghold of the moderate APHC leader.
Hurriyat Conference leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Bilal Lone were on Thursday manhandled allegedly by a group of Kashmiri Pandit activists who stormed a seminar being attended by them in Chandigarh.
Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has demanded the resignations of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his father, union minister Dr Farooq Abdullah.
He said the recently held round table conference in New Delhi and the Pugwash conference in Islamabad sent clear indications that a meaningful peace process is afoot to resolve the long pending Kashmir issue.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances