Shops and businesses were shut while thousands of armed government forces and commandos in flak jackets spread out across Kashmir and closed off roads with coiled razor wire and iron barricades as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the occupied territory on Sunday.
A complete shutdown was observed in the occupied valley amid protests on the call of the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, which was also supported by the Kashmir High Court Bar Association. As Modi visited Srinagar, Ladakh and Jammu to lay foundation stones for different developmental projects, Kashmiris brought all commercial activities to a halt and staged demonstrations against New Delhi’s state-sanctioned brutalities. Train operations were stopped and traffic flow also remained limited in the occupied region.
In a statement, the JRL said Modi was seeking to crush Kashmiris’ genuine demand for right to self-determination by ordering killings, arrests, destruction of properties and other oppressive tactics. The Kashmiri leaders asserted that any such person deserves to be welcomed only with protests. “A person who in his pursuit to crush Kashmiri resistance ordered killings and damaging properties, hurting Kashmiri economy and other oppressive measures deserves only a protest from those he has oppressed,” the leaders said in a statement. In their bid to quell anti-India demonstrations, the occupying force imposed a curfew and either took into custody or put under house arrest many Hurriyat leaders including Gilani and Mirwaiz. Troop deployment was increased in Srinagar, Jammu and other areas of the occupied territory, while internet and mobile services were shut. Unarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones were used for surveillance. In a statement, Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said the Indian PM’s visit to Srinagar was tantamount to ‘rubbing salt in the wounds of all Kashmiris’. He said the people of Kashmir categorically reject the legitimacy of Modi’s visit and his development projects. He said Indian troops have committed unspeakable atrocities and human rights violations in the occupied territory during Modi’s tenure.
Published in Daily Times, February 4th 2019.
