"We have seen enough of strikes and curfews for the past four months and now we want to feed our families. We cannot go on forever like this," a vendor, who identified himself only as Khalid, told PTI
A five-member European Union delegation, currently on an information gathering visit to Valley, on Friday hinted that the EU will not interfere in the Kashmir issue, saying it has to be resolved by the "people living in the region". "We are not coming here with a particular mandate (to solve the issue). What is happening in this part of the country has to be solved by the people who are living in the region," EU Ambassador to India Daniele Smadja told reporters.
Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy recently received a tremendous amount of criticism for her speech at the Azadi -- The Only Way seminar in New Delhi, where she shared the stage with Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani. In a strongly worded statement, Roy clarifies her stance on the issue.
Terming the remarks made by Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer Arundhati Roy at a seminar in New Delhi as 'most unfortunate', Law Minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said freedom of speech cannot violate patriotic sentiments of the people."Yes, there is freedom of speech, but it can't violate the patriotic sentiments of the people," he said.
Calling for a boycott of the Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir, hardline Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani said they had been appointed as part of a 'dirty trick' to mislead United States President Barack Obama.
Curfew-like-restrictions were imposed on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar and other towns to scuttle the separatist called marches.
Prohibitory orders clamped following lifting of curfew remained in force in Srinagar and other major towns of the Kashmir Valley on Monday even as normal life was affected in the wake of a strike called by separatists to protest against recent preventive detentions.
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin was among Kashmiri militant leaders who addressed a rally organised in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Tuesday to protest alleged human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar and other towns on Thursday evening to scuttle Friday's proposed separatist march to Eidgah grounds in the city.
From being billed as mother of "all confidence building measures" to derision as a "cosmetic step", Srinagar-Muzaffarabad cross-Line of Control bus service has survived tensions between India and Pakistan including Mumbai terror attacks and numerous ceasefire violations along the border to complete 10 years of its operation on Tuesday.
Dr Sameer Kaul, Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's personal physician, speaks about Kashmir's hardline separatist.
Hinting at continuing protests in Kashmir till the visit of United States President Barack Obama to India in November, Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Sunday accused the Centre of trying to suppress the 'movement' in the Valley ahead of the US President's arrival.
Life across Kashmir valley was badly affected on Friday by a protest shutdown called by hard-line separatist leader and All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.The strike had been called to protest against the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.Although authorities didn't impose any restrictions in the old city, security across Srinagar has been beefed up to maintain law and order.
The Srinagar police detained chairman of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq along with other senior leaders of the group in Srinagar on Thursday.
The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference today rejected Centre's latest initiative on Kashmir, saying it was 'disappointing' as it reflected lack of willingness to meet the aspirations of the people.
The Centre on Monday expressed happiness over the reopening of most educational institutes in Jammu and Kashmir and appealed to all sections of the people, especially parents, to cooperate with the government in their smooth functioning. Home Minister P Chidambaram said there was a call by one of the Hurriyat leaders to the parents asking them not to send their children to schools and colleges, but it was heartening that parents have disregarded that call.
Kashmir Valley has been in grip of violent protests since June 11 when a 17-year-old boy was killed after he was hit by a tear smoke shell during clashes at Rajouri Kadal in interior city.
All Party Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has claimed that he was placed under house arrest minutes after his meeting with the all-party delegation at his residence in downtown Srinagar.
An engineering student was hit by a tear smoke shell fired by the police to disperse a stone-pelting mob near his residence.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has ruled out resumption of talks with the Centre, saying that "genocide of Kashmiris and dialogue can't go together".
Police blamed activists of hard line faction of Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Muslim league headed by underground separatist leader Masrat Alam Bhat for carrying out the incidents of arson as part of a pre-planned conspiracy to disrupt Eid celebrations.
Moderate separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Friday categorically denied that "any quiet dialogue was going on between them and the Centre".
Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani today said the ongoing protests could be reviewed and a dialogue with the Centre initiated if it fulfils five preconditions.
Hardline separatist leader Asiya Andrabi was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday.Andrabi is a trusted lieutenant of separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. She and fellow separatist leader Masarat Alam have been spearheading the protests in Srinagar.Andrabi, who had been underground for some time, was one of the most wanted leaders in the Valley.Kashmir has witnessed a vicious cycle of protests and civilian deaths in firing by security forces.
A mob set a school bus on fire in Khanyar area of Srinagar on Saturday, official sources said. A group of people stopped a bus belonging to a private school near Rangerstop in Khanyar area on Saturday morning and asked the driver and students to get off. They set the bus on fire.
Writer Arundhati Roy, Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others were booked on charges of sedition by Delhi Police for their "anti-India" speech at a seminar in Delhi. They were charged under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (false statement, rumour circulated with intent to cause mutiny or offence.
The efforts to forge unity among the various Kashmiri separatist groups received a jolt after hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani rejected the unity move of the moderate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday.
Separatist leader and Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Geelani has urged people to actively participate in the Census to put an end to the much-talked about demographic supremacy of a particular community, the daily Rising Kashmir has reported.
A little-known Kashmiri separatist leader is spurring the stone-throwing protests against security forces in the Kashmir Valley with tactics such as YouTube recruitment videos and protest calendars published in the local media.
Following recent serious differences that have surfaced in the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference over the issue of 'quiet dialogue' with the Centre, an extraordinary meeting of the conglomerate decided, on Monday, to suspend the party's office bearers and keep the various committees in suspended animation.
At least five persons were injured in fresh clashes between youths and police following an attempt by activists of a women separatist organisation to take out a march in defiance of curfew orders in Srinagar, officials said.
Apparently trying to dabble in internal rivalry in the Hurriyat, Pakistan has invited hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani as the 'Chairman' of the amalgam along with six other Kashmiri separatist leaders for a meeting in Islamabad later this month.
Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir Valley on Thursday due to a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani to protest killings in Gaza and to mourn the death of seven persons in an accident involving an army vehicle.
Gauba said the JKLF spearheaded the separatist ideology in Kashmir Valley and the action was taken following the 'zero tolerance' policy of the central government against terrorism.
The strike called by the two groups of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference brought in a complete shutdown and undeclared curfew in the Valley on Monday, a day after violence left one person dead and over a dozen people injured in police firing Srinagar.
After remaining shut for 100 days, schools in Kashmir Valley reopened on Monday, with students and teachers given a free passage by security forces despite curfew and restrictions in many parts. However, attendance was thin against the backdrop of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's call to parents not to send their wards to schools and colleges. The education system in the valley had become a collateral damage in the ongoing unrest.
LJP supremo Ramvilas Paswan on Thursday said he favoured autonomy for Kashmir and withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the region.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, had an exclusive chat with the readers of rediff.com on Wednesday, September 22, where he spoke about the rationale behind the separatists' renewed war cry for azaadi.
Curfew remained in force in Kashmir Valley for the 11th day on Wednesday even as the death toll in the ongoing agitation rose to 104 after a youth succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Srinagar.
Kashmir remained the biggest hurdle in relations between India and Pakistan and it should top the agenda of any talks between the two countries, moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said on Friday.
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