UPDATE - Kashmir shuts down to mark Afzal Guru death anniversary

EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Nusrat Sidiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Shops and businesses in India-administered Kashmir remained shut Sunday following a call by resistance groups to mark the execution anniversary of Mohammad Afzal Guru, who was put to death in prison for allegedly taking part in an attack in 2001 on India’s parliament.

The shutdown call was the first since Aug. 5 last year when India’s ruling Hindu nationalist government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and stripped the region of its statehood and limited autonomy.

Most of the roads in the region’s summer capital of Srinagar were deserted except for patrols by hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers. Public transport was also off the roads after resuming in October last year.

The weekly flea market popularly known as ‘Sunday Market,’ which normally attracts huge crowds, was also shut. As people observed the shutdown, the administration in the early hours of the day cut already limited 2G postpaid internet services again, resuming them only late in the evening.

It was only last month when limited internet connectivity was restored after a more than five-month blackout. High-speed internet is still blocked in the region.

Guru was secretly hanged in Tihar jail in New Delhi on Feb. 9, 2013 on charges of being involved in the 2001 attack on parliament in which 14 people, including five gunmen, were killed.

India blamed Islamabad for backing the militants who carried out the attack.

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

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

India’s Supreme Court while imposing 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."

"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," it added.

- Journalists summoned

Police in the region summoned two journalists Saturday for questioning for reporting on the strike call made by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a pro-resistance group which was banned by the Indian government last March.

The Kashmir Press Club called it harassment and the journalist body will likely meet tomorrow to discuss it.

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

Meanwhile, the police said in a statement that they registered a case against the resistance groups for "attempts to incite violence and disturb the law and order situation."

-Disputed region

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by 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 were over Kashmir.

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

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