The government imposed restrictions under Section 144 CrPC in Srinagar district.
he Centre on this day in 2019 had revoked Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Shops, business establishments and educational institutes remained closed due to the strike and most public vehicles were off the road. Geelani on Wednesday called for complete shutdown in protest against the President's visit claiming that there was "no justification" for her visit as "human rights violations by security forces were going on unabated in the state."
His comments drew angry reaction from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which said he should resign from the assembly and join separatists or migrate to Pakistan.
The rehabilitation policy okayed by the Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday facilitating the return of youth who had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir since 1990 for arms training has not gone down well with the Opposition parties.
Ignoring the separatists' call for boycott, residents of Qoimoh block in south Kashmir on Wednesday turned out in numbers to cast votes in the first phase of panchayat elections, which are being held in Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of 10 years.
Police said separatist militants ambushed a convoy of the army when it passed through the apple-rich town of Sopore.
The three-member panel formed by the government to hold 'sustained dialogue' with the people of Jammu and Kashmir including separatists is expected to submit its report within a year.
Nirmal Singh said talks could be held with the separatists and they should come forward with their grievances with an open mind.
A delegation of members of Parliament and civil society members, who are on a "fact-finding" tour of Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday asked the Centre to start a dialogue process for resolution of Kashmir issue and include separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani in it.
In the ad, the government highlighted how the separatists sent their children to "exotic lands" to study, work and earn while instigating the common people to push their children into "violence, stone pelting and hartals".
A separatist sponsored protest shutdown on Tuesday paralysed life in Kashmir, even as fresh incidents of stone pelting re-occurred in parts of capital city Srinagar and other towns.
Despite threats by militants and separatist groups, civic polls in Baramulla and Kupwara districts of Jammu and Kashmir ended peacefully on Saturday.
While business establishments remained closed, work in government and semi-government offices, banks and other financial institutions as well as educational institutions were paralysed across the valley, official sources said, adding transport remained off the roads in various districts.
A special NIA court has issued non-bailable warrants against 23 terrorists operating from across the border after exfiltrating from their home district of Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
"Hurriyat has nothing to do with this meaningless exercise and will ask the people to stay away from it as well," Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the separatist amalgam's moderate faction, said after the Election Commission announced the seven-phased poll schedule for the border state.
"Holding elections on time would have been beneficial to the main political parties. In the last elections, separatists like Hurriyat Conference had boycotted the elections. They had an impact only in six constituencies whereas other constituencies polled over 60 to 80 per cent," Party general secretary Arun Jaitley said.
The 2008 assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be remembered for a host of reasons. Post 1996, it is the first election which has passed off peacefully, without any major untoward incident marring the process. In the wake of the election boycott call given by the separatists, the voter turnout, particularly in the conflict-ridden valley of Kashmir, has been much higher than expected. Many braved the bitter cold and waited for hours outside polling stations.
It shows the electorate's growing faith in the credibility of the electoral process. People obviously think it is worth their while to line up in long queues in inclement weather because they believe that what they punch into their EVM machines is going to decide who will be the victor.
Polling in Srinagar began on low key but authorities say it will pick up later in the day. There are 16,91,797 voters in the 21 constituencies in the three districts voting on Wednesday. A total of 1872 polling stations have been set up for the seventh and the last phase of the polling.
Jammu and Kashmir is no longer the area most affected my militancy and separatist violence in the country, as the conflict-ridden North eastern states of the country have surpassed it in respect of incidents of insurgency-related violence and related civilian casualties. The north eastern states recorded 1,489 incidents insurgency-related violence in 2007 while Jammu and Kashmir recorded about 500 incidents of violence less in the same year.
Two of the three youths killed in an encounter with security forces in the Parimpora area of Srinagar were 'radically inclined' and working as overground workers of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) terror outfit, police said on Friday and added that the case was being investigated.
Women's separatist outfit Dukhtarane Milat staged a protest in Srinagar on Thursday against Valentine Day celebrations in Kashmir.
Rajnath Singh led the delegation of 26 MPs from 20 parties which stayed overnight in Srinagar before stopping over in Jammu this afternoon.
Normal life across Kashmir was affected on Monday because of the strike called by separatist groups to protest against the killing of two youths in alleged army firing in Valley's Bandipora district.
Authorities were gearing up to question Geelani following claims made by his aide G M Bhat that the money was meant for Geelani and his Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, an amalgam created as a parallel to Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.
Local residents started pelting security personnel with stones, leading to clashes, they said, adding that some civilians were injured.
Normal life on Saturday resumed in Kashmir after five days of shutdown, curfew in some parts of the valley, and clashes that left nearly 200 people injured.
Security in Jammu and Kashmir has been further beefed up following intelligence inputs suggesting that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba was planning to carry out terrorist strikes in the state including assassination of a political or a top separatist leader.
'The government is in no hurry to talk to the separatists and would like to approach the Kashmiri people directly through various other organisations.' 'Officials in charge of J&K affairs at the Centre are clear that there would be no let up in the operations against terrorists,' reveals BharatShakti.in founder Nitin A Gokhale.
Curfew was clamped in Srinagar, Pampore, Kakapora, Pulwama and Sopore towns as a precautionary measure even as restrictions remained in force in other major towns of Kashmir Valley on Wednesday in the wake of a protest march called by separatists. Hard-line Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has given a call for the march to Pampore, was placed under house arrest on Tuesday evening as a preventive measure, a police spokesman said.
At least five people were injured as people took to the streets at several places across Kashmir valley and clashed with security personnel on Tuesday, while the separatist-sponsored strike against the killing of a youth paralysed life for the second successive day.
In the backdrop of the latest unrest in Kashmir, separatist leader Sajjad Lone said the demand for independence for the region could be the reference point for starting a dialogue with the union government.
'It is time to not merely assert that Kashmir is an internal problem, but begin to act on it,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'I felt like a used and discarded rag.' 'The pro-dialogue constituency has shrunk in the valley.' Academician and author Dr Radha Kumar was among the three interlocutors which the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government appointed on Kashmir in October 2010, speaks of how the panel report was never acted upon.
Geelani cleared for Haj pilgrimage: J&K govt
While separatists have called for a boycott of the polls, terrorists have threatened to target persons taking part in these elections.
There will be eight more phases of Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
