Kashmir shuts down to mark Afzal Guru death anniversary

By Nusrat Sidiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - All Shops and business establishments remained shut in India-administered Kashmir on Sunday on account of a shutdown call given by pro-resistance groups to mark the execution anniversary of a 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Guru was hanged in Tihar Jail, Delhi on 9 Feb.2013. The shutdown call was the first, after Aug.5 last year when ruling Hindu Nationalist Government revoked the special status of the region and stripped the Jammu and Kashmir from its Statehood and limited autonomy.

Majority of the roads in Srinagar City wore a deserted look with hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled largely. Public transport was also off the roads after resuming in October, last year.

The flea market popularly known as Sunday market which attracts a massive footfall every Sunday, stayed off roads too. As people observed shutdown, the administration in the early hours of the day snapped limited internet (2G Postpaid) services again only resuming it late in the evening.

It was only last month in January when limited internet connectivity was restored after more than five months of blackout. The high speed internet is still blocked in the region.

The long demand of independence of Kashmiri people or least merging with neighboring Pakistan, were incensed when in 2013, Mohammad Afzal Guru was secretly hanged in a New Delhi jail on charges of being involved in a 2001 parliament attack that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.

India blamed Islamabad for backing the militants to carry out the attack on the parliament of the world's largest democracy.

Pakistan denied any involvement and condemned the attack but tension rose sharply and brought the nuclear-armed rivals dangerously close to their fourth war. Nearly a million soldiers were mobilised on both sides of the border and fears of war only dissipated months later, in June 2002.

Guru was convicted of helping organize arms for the gunmen who made the attack and a place for them to stay. He always maintained his innocence and said that he was not given a fair trial.

Indian Supreme Court while handing out Guru's death sentence had observed that "As is the case with most conspiracies, there is and could be no evidence amounting to criminal conspiracy."

It added, "The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation, and the collective conscience of society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender."




- Journalists summoned

The police on Saturday in the region summoned two journalists for questioning for reporting about the strike call given by Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a pro-resistance group which was banned by the Indian Government in March last year.

The Kashmir Press Club (KPC) has called it harassment and the journalist body is likely going to meet tomorrow to discuss about it.

One of the journalist told Anadolu Agency that it has become a routine for police to summon journalists and intimidate.

Meanwhile Police in a statement has said they registered a case against the pro-resistance groupsfor "attempts to incite violence and disturb law and order situation."



-Disputed region

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighbouring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.