A shutdown call, issued by separatist Hurriyat against the newly introduced laws in J&K, impacted the normal life in Kashmir valley on Saturday.
Most markets, shops and private offices remained closed. Most commercial hubs in the Valley districts also wore a deserted look. The government offices also saw this attendance. However, private transport plied on the roads.
An official said security was tightened in volatile pockets “to tackle the situation”.
Read: Real estate: Editorial on changes to J&K land laws
Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said the anti-people orders being issued for J&K “are aimed at intimidation and psychological torture of the people”.
“The Hurriyat reiterates its principled stand of engagement and dialogue among stakeholders for resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Instead, a policy of permanent demographic change is aggressively being pushed, to snatch our land, destroy our identity and turn us into a minority in our own land,” he said in a statement.
Congress for joint fight
Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir on Saturday said the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration and his party has “many common agendas”.
Also read: Now, outsiders can buy land in Jammu and Kashmir
“We are part of these common agendas. But there can be differences in the language being used while fighting for the cause.”
He described the repealing of land laws by New Delhi a ‘betrayal’. “The people of J&K were assured repeatedly that their land will be protected at any cost.”
He said there was a need to fight unitedly against New Delhi “to frustrate their anti-Kashmir designs”.
“People of J&K are much anguished and worried by the approach of the Modi-led Central government as it has come up with anti-Kashmir decisions since it came to power. There is a need to sit jointly and draft a course of action to give a befitting reply to the machinations of New Delhi,” he said.
Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadees vice-president and prominent cleric Moulana Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri was released on Saturday after 20 months of detention.
The cleric was arrested on February 24, 2019 and later booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
