Burhan Wani death anniversary: Officials taking nothing to chance
Srinagar, July 8: The Valley remained tense even as security forces raised the alert levels on the death anniversary of Burhan Wani, the slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist. Mobile internet services were suspended in the Kashmir valley on Saturday as a precautionary measure in the wake of the death of three civilians in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
The civilians were allegedly killed in firing by the security forces during clashes with stone-pelting protesters in Kulgam on Saturday, they said.
Mobile internet has been suspended in the entire Kashmir valley, a police official said. He, however, said broadband services on BSNL landlines are working.
The
decision
to
suspend
mobile
internet
services
is
a
precautionary
measure
to
maintain
law
and
order,
he
said.
Restrictions
have
been
imposed
in
Tral
township,
in
south
Kashmir's
Pulwama
district,
and
in
the
Nowhatta
and
Maisuma
police
station
areas
of
Srinagar,
the
summer
capital
of
Jammu
and
Kashmir,
a
police
official
said
He
said
the
curbs
have
been
imposed
as
a
precautionary
measure
to
maintain
law
and
order
and
to
avoid
any
untoward
incident.
Wani, a resident of Tral, was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Kokernag area of south Kashmir's Anantnag district on July 8, 2016. His killing triggered massive protests and prolonged period of curfews and shutdowns across the Valley. As many as 85 people were killed and thousand others were injured in clashes between security forces and protesters over four months.
The
official
said
security
forces
have
been
deployed
in
strength
at
sensitive
places
across
the
Valley
Meanwhile,
the
strike
called
by
separatists
against
the
shifting
of
Asiya
Andrabi,
the
chief
of
radical
women's
outfit
Dukhtaran-e-Millat
(DeM),
to
Delhi
by
the
National
Investigation
Agency
(NIA),
evoked
mixed
response
in
the
Valley
on
Saturday/
The separatists, under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), had on Friday called for a strike to protest the shifting of Andrabi and her colleagues.
The JRL comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik appealed to the people to "observe a complete shutdown and maintain civil curfew". While shops and other establishments were shut in the city centre Lal Chowk here, business continued as usual in other areas of the city, the official said.
He
said
public
transport
was
sparse,
but
private
cars,
cabs
and
auto-rickshaws
were
plying
in
many
areas
of
the
city
The
official
said
similar
reports
of
a
mixed
response
to
the
strike
were
received
from
other
district
headquarters
of
the
Valley.
Cracking a whip on separatist leaders ahead of Wani's death anniversary, the police had on Friday detained Malik in a police station here, while Mirwaiz was put under house arrest. Geelani continued to remain under house detention.