M A I N   N E W S

Shutdown in valley
Two days to polls Round 2, militants attack BSP candidate’s house in Sopore, clash in Ganderbal
Kumar Rakesh
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 21
Taken aback by the high turn-out in the first phase of the polls in Kashmir, separatist attempted to re-assert themselves today as the valley went for a complete shutdown. Militants launching some grenade attacks, including one on the house of Bahujan Samajwadi Party candidate from Sopore, a militant stronghold.

The coordination committee of separatist political, religious and trader groups had called for post-afternoon namaz strike in the valley and asked people to march towards Jamia Masjid, the traditional seat of the Mirwaiz clan. But the weary business community, which is caught between a strident Hurriyat workers and tough-posturing security personnel, decided not open their shops at all.

Private offices were largely closed and most of the government offices wore a deserted look while transporters were also off-road.

“These are bad times. Hurriyat workers are nervy and volatile over the high turn-out on November 17 and security personnel are always suspicious of us. It is a perfect set-up for clashes and no shopkeeper will risk opening his shop,” Mian Tauqir, a Lal chowk-based dry fruit seller told this paper.

Authorities also deployed forces in large numbers to foil any separatist plans for march to Jamia Masjid and curfew-like situation prevailed in downtown area where Hurriyat(M)-chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq enjoys considerable support.

He remains under house arrest and said it was third consecutive Friday when the government has denied him offering prayers in Jamia. “It’s a brutal display of muscle power and completely undemocratic,” he said.

Meanwhile, the high-profile constituency of Ganderbal, from where National Conference president Omar Abdullah is again locked in a bitter battle with PDP’s Qazi Afzal and which is going to polls on Sunday, remained at the centre of anti-election protests.

Police used force to disperse a crowd of anti-election protestors and unconfirmed reports said one demonstrator was injured when a security official attached with a candidate fired when a crowd charged towards him.

Separatist have also announced march towards Ganderbal, which is 25 km from Srinagar, on election day on Sunday. The big deployment of security forces in Srinagar will remain in coming days as the government is unlikely to ease its pressure on separatist leaders and activists.

In the separatist bastion of Sopore, the hometown of Hurriyat hawk Syed Alis Shah Geelani, militants launched grenades into the police station, injuring its SHO Inspector Shafeeq Ahmad, who has been referred to a Srinagar hospital.

They also targeted house of Ishfaq Yusuf Bhat, BSP candidate, and the office of returning officer but there were no casualties.

A whopping 28 candidates are fighting polls from Sopore constituency, which votes on December 7, and political observes say a decent poll in Geelani’s support base could prove to be the ultimate embarrassment for Hurriyat.