Widespread protests and a shutdown, to protest the alleged rape and murder of two young women, brought Kashmir valley to a standstill on Monday.Since early on Monday morning, youths took to the streets of Srinagar and pelted stones at the police, paramilitary and Central Reserve Police Force personnel.According to reports, security forces used batons and teargas to quell the mobs in various localities.
Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday condemned the hanging of Afzal Guru, saying the latter was not involved in the 2001 Parliament attack and was also not given a chance to defend himself in connection with this case. Geelani said Guru's hanging at the Tihar Jail this morning is a matter of sorrow and pain for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Normal life was on Thursday disrupted in Kashmir Valley due to a strike called by separatist groups to protest against the "proposed plans" to establish Sainik Colony, settlements for migrant Kashmiri Pandits and induction of new industrial policy in the state.
Jilani said Pakistan had not received any "official communication" from the Indian side in this context and described the visit of the Hurriyat delegation as "a positive development".\n\n
The Centre is acting tough with Kashmir's separatist leaders by taking on their foreigner wives, refusing them to stay with their husbands in Jammu and Kashmir.
"It (JeI's statement) is a very valid thing. Islam seeks such a society where human values are respected, where modesty is upheld, where semi-naked dresses are not worn, where alcohol and drugs are not promoted and where women and men do not mix," Geelani said.
The general strike called by hardline Hurriyat in support of the demand for handing over the body of Parliament convict Mohammad Afzal Guru, who was hanged in Tihar Jail, evoked a mixed response in the Kashmir Valley.
Talking to rediff.com, APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq said 'Moulvi Abbas, by meeting the interlocutors, had violated the conglomerate's policy decision'.
Highly-placed sources said an invitation will be sent as soon as Hurriyat leaders agree to hold talks with Patil.
The action follows the sealing of a Srinagar-based property of the founder and self-styled chief commander of the Al-Umar Mujahideen, Mushtaq Zargar alias 'Latram', on Thursday.
The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that the deputy prime minister has agreed to hold 'unconditional' talks.
The ruling Congress party on Thursday said the Hurriyat leaders' trip from occupied Kashmir to other cities of Pakistan was in violation of the understanding between the two countries and that the government should take appropriate view on it.
Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq was detained along with hundreds of his supporters for staging a protest in Srinagar, coinciding with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The rally was, however, intercepted by the police at Munawarabad area resulting in clashes. The police had to use tear gas and resort to repeated baton charges to disperse the protest rally.
"We are not going to attend the April 24 roundtable scheduled to discuss Centre-state relations or developmental issues," Hurriyat spokesman Shahid-ul-Islam told PTI.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, told rediff.com, "Anyone who indulges in acts of terrorism on either side of the border should be held accountable and should be dealt with in accordance with the law, whether it is Ajmal Kasab or anyone."
'They (the Centre) have been talking in Mizoram to militant organisations... I don't think that option should be closed (in Kashmir),' the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Ali Mohammad Mir, who is the prime accused in the kidnapping case after Malik, had taken Rubaiya Sayeed in his vehicle to Sopore from Srinagar and kept her at a guesthouse.
A total of Rs 550,000 was recovered from the two Hurriyat leaders.
The separatist leaders were told that "restrictions have been imposed on their movement in the national capital" ahead a possible talks between NSA Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
SAS Geelani said he would support a dialogue process aimed at resolving Kashmir issue.
India on Monday said there was 'no scope for misunderstanding or misrepresenting' its position
Ahead of his talks with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir will be meeting leaders of various separatist outfits from Kashmir over the next two days.
The hardline Hurriyat Conference on Saturday rejected Centre's eight-point formula to de-escalate the current turmoil in Kashmir terming it as an "eye wash" even as other separatist outfits maintained a studied silence.
It also asked the people of the state to observe January 26 as a 'black day'.
Geelani, who is visiting Jammu on November 12 and 13 to finalise the modalities of the talks, said the amalgam also plans to hold seperate meetings with Dogras of Jammu and Buddhists of Ladakh at a later date.
"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.
The Jammu and Kashmir high court has quashed the detention of the ailing chairman of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani under the Public Safety Act and has ordered his release.
'People on both sides of Line of Control should observe a complete shutdown on January 26 to impress upon the world community that unless India fulfills the promises made to people of Kashmir, they will continue their struggle'.
'The ISI doesn't trust the Kashmiris. They hate them...' 'We can never take Kashmir for granted, so there is that element of unpredictability. Anything can happen anytime.' 'The next chief minister will still be from the Valley. Even if a BJP chief minister or a BJP chosen candidate comes, he will be from the Valley. And he will be a Muslim.' A S Dulat, the former R&AW chief, on why he is perplexed by the BJP's Mission 44 plan for the J&K assembly election.
The Centre also favours a dialogue with the Naxalites, said Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
The arrest of Mohammed Nayeem Khan, president of the National Front, came a day before a party convention.
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