Mirwaiz placed under house arrest
The officials said while public transport was sparse, private vehicles, cabs and auto-rickshaws plied normally.
Authorities
on Saturday placed several separatists, including moderate Hurriyat
Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest even as a
strike called by hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani over
killing of two youths in an army operation earlier this week evoked a
partial response in some parts of Kashmir.
Mr.
Mirwaiz was placed under house arrest on Saturday morning in view of
fresh protests in some parts of the Valley over killing of the two
youths in Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district in an army
operation on Monday, police officials said.
They said
the house arrest of the separatist leaders was a preventive measure for
maintaining law and order. Mr. Geelani and several other second rung
separatist leaders continue to be under house arrest for the second
consecutive day on Saturday, the officials said.
These
leaders were placed under house arrest on Friday to scuttle Mr.
Geelani’s proposed march to Tral town for registering protest against
the killing of the two youths, claimed to be innocent civilians by local
residents.
However, the army has maintained that they were militants.
In
view of the strike call, shops, business establishments, educational
institutes and petrol pumps were shut in and around Lal Chowk city
centre but most of them were open in the civil lines areas of the city
as well as in other major towns of the Valley, the officials said.
They said while public transport was sparse, private vehicles, cabs and auto-rickshaws plied normally.
Mr.
Geelani had called for a strike against the killing of the two youths.
He had also asked the people to protest against “unjustified and
inhuman” arrests of Hurriyat Leaders including Masarat Alam.
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