Srinagar, August 5
Lawyers in the Kashmir valley courts today struck work in protest against the Supreme Court decision yesterday confirming death sentence to Mohammad Afzal and 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment to Shaukat Hussain Guru in the Parliament attack case.

Meanwhile, most leaders of the separatist organisations said the verdict was aimed at suppressing the ‘’freedom struggle’’.

Almost all cases listed for the day have been adjourned, an official of the high court said.

The boycott of courts was decided only this morning following the Supreme Court’s decision, a group of lawyers in the lower court said.

They said only a few cases were taken up before the lawyers struck work.

All the remaining cases listed for today were adjourned till the next hearing, they said.

However, the high court presented a different look where lawyers boycotted the court since morning.

Expressing solidarity with Mohammad Afzal and Shaukat Hussain a number of leading advocates termed the verdict as “a way to suppress the voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir’’.

Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah’s petition seeking court permission to repair the damaged platform adjacent to his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s grave at Hazratbal was also listed for today along with the Dal Lake case.

Meanwhile, protest demonstrations were held at several places in the city and other major towns of the valley expressing solidarity with Afzal and Shaukat.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) also held a procession from Maisuma to lodge protest against the verdict.

The All-Party Hurriyat Conference (Geelani), reacting to the verdict, said India would not succeed in suppressing the movement by such measures.

“The freedom movement will continue and people will continue their fight for the right to self-determination,” the HC said.

JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik said this was not an isolated case and such a verdict had not come for the first time.

The Indian authorities implicated Mohammad Maqbool Bhat and later hanged him to death in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

Accusing the Centre of doublespeak, he said on the one hand India talked of peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue through dialogue, but on the other Kashmiris were being killed.

Chairman of the National Front Nayeem Ahmad Khan said India would achieve nothing by such things. “Killing of Maqbool Bhat gave birth to thousands of Bhats who are ready to sacrifice everything for the Kashmir cause,” he said.

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference chairman Sajjad Gani Lone said the peace process and death sentences to Kashmiris could not go together.

Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chief Shabir Ahmad Shah visited the house of Mohammad Afzal Guru and expressed solidarity with his relatives.

He appealed to the President of India to stop the execution of the order.

Mr Shah said the freedom struggle would continue till the goal was achieved.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Forum (JKLF) led by its chairman Javid Ahmad Mir also took to the streets at Abi-Guzar near here. However, they were prevented by the police from going towards the main market. Ten of them were later taken into preventive custody.

The Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association (JKBA) has said that the Supreme Court judgement was the gravest kind of punishment on political considerations.

The verdict of the Supreme Court has come under severe criticism in a general body meeting of the JKBA.

The members stated that when two of the accused persons were acquitted by the court, conviction of the other two on the basis of the same evidence was contrary to law and against the well-established authoritative pronouncements of the Supreme Court itself.

Meanwhile, Security forces fired in the air and the police burst tear-gas shells to disperse demonstrators at Maisuma near here. The demonstrators were protesting against the Supreme Court verdict in the Parliament attack case.

The demonstrators, raising pro-freedom slogans, also pelted the police and passing vehicles with stones after they were prevented from proceeding towards Badshah Chowk.

As the demonstrators refused to disperse, the police burst tear-gas shells and resorted to a lathi charge in which about six persons were injured.

Later, the security forces fired several rounds in the air when the demonstrators, who also burnt tyres, were moving towards Lal Chowk.

Business activities in the area came to a halt and traffic also went off the road.
— UNI

Srinagar, August 5
The police today claimed to have busted a module of Hizbul Mujahideen out fit with the arrest of two militants involved in two car bomb blasts that had occurred here since July. A major breakthrough had been achieved with the arrest of four persons involved in another car blast in the Nishat area here early last month, while three others involved in other incidents were also arrested.

Disclosing this here today, the Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Mr Gopal Sharma, said 46 top commanders of various outfits had been eliminated this years so far. He said 798 other militants had been killed and arrested in the state this year as compared to 760 militants during the corresponding period last year.

Giving details the DG police said one militant of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, Merajuddin Khanday code Sohail code Ishfaq, had been arrested. He was operating in Srinagar and was providing details of targets and time of carrying out the car blasts.

On the basis of his disclosures, his associate, Hilal Ahmad code Nadeem, alias Sabba, who was also involved in car bomb blasts here had been arrested from Tral in Pulwama district. “During their interrogation they revealed that the planning of the blasts was carried out by the commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen,” the DG police stated. The two were involved in the car blasts that took place on May 11 and July 20.

Four other militants involved in the car bomb explosion at Nishat were arrested here today, Mr Sharma said. Further investigations into the case were in progress and a special investigating team had been formed to conduct a probe into the matter. Those arrested have been identified as Shabir Ahmad, Iqbal, Sheeraz Ahmad and Shabir Ahmad Junior.

Meanwhile, according to a PTI report panic gripped downtown Srinagar this morning when militants fired at a police station, but there was no report of any casualty, official sources said.

Militants fired a few shots from a distance towards the police station, Khanyar, around 9 am causing panic in the area for a while, the sources said.

Policemen retaliated but militants managed to flee from the scene, the sources added.

Srinagar, August 5
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, here said today that any “political decision” to give cover to the security forces while fighting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir would “be considered”, though it would not be an easy task.

“If it comes, we will consider it”, he said in reply to questions at a press conference held here today. He added that the IAF, which had been undertaking various difficult assignments, was ready to abide by the instructions. As of now there were no such instructions and that there was no indication of any such a plan. Air Chief Marshal said the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had recently stated that the services of the Air Force would be utilised in the counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East.

Referring to various difficult assignments taken up by the IAF this year, the Air Chief Marshal, S.P. Tyagi said a commendable job had been accomplished in the snow storm-hit Jammu and Kashmir early this year. At least 40,000 persons were rescued from the snow-bound areas and airlifted to safer places, he said. The troops were also airlifted from some parts along LoC, where over 70 feet of snow was recorded. Fuel and food was provided to the affected people”, he said.

The IAF also conducted relief and rescue operation in the flood-hit areas of Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the Air Chief pointed out. He said it played a key role during the tsunami tragedy in different parts of the country, adding that the Air Force was fully equipped in disaster management.

He also revealed that the Indian Air Force and the US Air Force would carry out joint exercises in India this year, while similar exercises would be conducted with the British Royal Air Force next year.