Alwaght- Indian-administered Kashmir is in shutdown to protest the illegal arrest of seven Hurriyat leaders by India’s security forces.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is an alliance of 26 political, social and religious organizations formed on March 9, 1993, as a united political front to raise the cause of Kashmiri freedom from Indian occupation.
The shutdown call was made by Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) on Tuesday to protest the “illegal arrests” of Hurriyat leaders by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“JRL comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik have given a call for complete strike to protest and condemn the “revengeful, arbitrary and illegal arrests of Hurriyat leaders Altaf Ahmed Shah, Shahidul Islam, Ayaz Akbar, Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Peer Saifullah by NIA in Srinagar today,” said a spokesman.
Following the shutdown, public transport, shops, other businesses and educational institutions remained closed and other district headquarters in Kashmir valley.
Meanwhile, local security authorities ordered restrictions in the old city area including Rainawari, Khanyar, Nowhatta, M.R. Gunj and Safa Kadal.
The arrested leaders include Altaf Ahmad Shah, son-in-law of Geelani, and Ayaz Akbar, spokesman of the Geelani-led Hurriyat group. The others include Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Shahid-ul-Islam, close aide of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Peer Saifullah and Mehrajuddin Kalwal.
The six, who were arrested from Srinagar, were later flown to Delhi. They are expected to appear before Special NIA Judge at the Patiala House Courts on Tuesday, an NIA official said, adding their custody would be sought for further questioning.
The arrested persons have been booked on charges of criminal conspiracy and abetting waging war against the Indian State.
He also did not rule out the possibility of issuing summons to other Hurriyat leaders, including Geelani and JKLF leader Muhammad Yasin Malik who gave the call for the shutdown.
The conflict in Indian-controlled Kashmir is basically a struggle for self-determination with residents of the region demanding a plebiscite while India rejects the call.
The partition of British colonial India into the dominion states of India and Pakistan in 1947 led to the emergence of the Kashmir conflict.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, two of them over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir which they both claim in full but rule in part.
