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.
Normal life in several parts of the Kashmir Valley was affected due to a strike call given by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front as authorities clamped restrictions in two police station areas of the city to foil the launch of separatist outfit's 'Quit Kashmir' movement.
Curfew-like restrictions have been imposed and separatist leaders have been detained.
'For a man who had just received news of his daughter's kidnapping, he showed no sign of anxiety or agitation.' 'Here is a cool customer, I thought to myself.' 'The only thing he said was, 'I would not have been so anxious had they kidnapped my son'.' 'He told me that his daughter Rubaiya, who was a medical intern, was returning home from the hospital in a minibus when it was stopped close to the Mufti's house.' 'She was taken by four armed militants.' A gripping excerpt from Moosa Raza's Kashmir: Land Of Regrets.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday objected to the presence of JKLF president Yasin Malik at a pro-Tamil Eeelam meeting by the Naam Tamizhar Katchi at Cuddalore in Chennai on Saturday.
A strike called by a group of separatists demanding return of bodies of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru and JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat evoked little response in Kashmir Valley on Thursday.
Kashmir Valley remained under curfew for the third day on Monday even as mobile Internet services remained suspended and newspapers failed to hit the stands following hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru.
Separatist JKLF Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik has said that it was very unfortunate that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's mercy petition was dismissed and he was hanged in secrecy.
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.
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.
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was on Friday charged under Prevention of Terrorism Act by a court for allegedly raising funds to strengthen militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and two other leaders of the separatist outfit were detained on Friday as they tried to take out a protest rally from Maisuma locality in Srinagar triggering brief clashes with police.
There were no restrictions on the movement or assembly of people anywhere in the Valley.
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik and his associate Shoukat Bakshi were arrested on Thursday for allegedly ransacking a police station in Maisuma area in Srinagar, and attacking personnel.
Seven persons were injured in security force firing at Bemina in the curfew bound summer capital Srinagar on Friday evening. The injured who included Showkat Bakshi, vice president of pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and four women were immediately evacuated to Soura medical institute for treatment.
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.
Being the wife of separatist turned mainstream Kashmir leader Sajad Lone and the daughter of one of the JKLF founder members Amanullah Khan, Asma Khan Lone, 34, has seen the Kashmir developments as an insider.
Life returned to normal in all parts of Kashmir after three days of curfew-like restrictions in some parts of the city over protests against the death of Udhampur petrol bomb attack victim.
Most of the shops, business establishments, petrol pumps and offices were shut in and around the Lal Chowk city centre and in many areas elsewhere in the city, while government offices witnessed thin attendance, officials said.
Chairmen of both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Moulvi Omar Farooq and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Mohammad Yaseen Malik have been put under house arrest to prevent them from leading the Friday demonstrations in the valley.
Srinagar observed a sudden shutdown on Friday after the health of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik, who is on an indefinite fast, got deteriorated.
Kashmir University, Central University Kashmir and Islamic University of Science and Technology have postponed all examinations scheduled for Wednesday.
"If the Indian government speaks to the militants without setting any pre-conditions demilitarisation can happen within 24 hours," he said.
Separatist group Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front alleged that its chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and his family had to spend several hours on a road in Delhi after they were forced to leave the hotel booked by them.
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.
Authorities have imposed curfew-like-restrictions in parts of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to scuttle the protests called by separatists on the death anniversary of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front founder Maqbool Bhat.
'Yaseen Malik has spoken the truth. I worked as a senior office-bearer of JKLF till 1994 and I have interacted with cadres trained in his camp in Ternool," said the man who had hijacked an Indian Airlines plane in 1971.
London-based Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front pans other separatists who gave the Kashmir roundtable a miss.
A joint contingent of police and paramilitary forces laid a cordon around Geelani's Hyderpora house early in the morning.
For the first time in 25 years since the start of militancy in Kashmir, the separatists have not called for a general strike on Martyrs' Day on Monday in view of the fasting month of Ramzan.
A JKLF spokesman said the Kashmir issue was discussed at the meeting, but did not spell out the details.
This is the first attempt by the separatists to reach out to the mainstream parties.
An invitation by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to all the Kashmiri separatist leaders "for consultations" in Delhi ahead of Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks has touched off a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party calling it "most unfortunate" and "old tactics".
Akbar said around 30 members belonging to various constituents of the Geelani's faction have been invited by the Pakistan High Commission. They include Geelani, Ashraf Sehrai, Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan.