Shutdown in IOK marks Guru’s martyrdom anniversary

Srinagar: Complete shutdown was being observed on Friday to mark the fifth martyrdom anniversary of Kashmiri leader, Muhammad Afzal Guru.
According to Kashmir Media Service (KMS), all shops and business establishments remained close while traffic was off the roads across the occupied territory.
Call for the shutdown was given by the Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The JRL had also called for peaceful protests after Friday prayers to press the demand for the return of the mortal remains of Muhammad Afzal Guru and another renowned Kashmiri liberation leader, Muhammad Maqbool Butt, from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail to occupied Kashmir for decent burial.
It has also given a call for complete shutdown on Sunday (February 11) on the martyrdom anniversary of Muhammad Maqbool Butt and a march towards the United Nations observers’ office at Sonwar in Srinagar to present a memorandum for the UN Secretary General demanding the return of mortal remains of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru.
It is to mention here that India had executed Muhammad Afzal Guru in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on this day in 2013 while Muhammad Maqbool Butt was hanged in the same jail on 11th February in 1984. The bodies of the two martyrs remain buried in the premises of the jail.
The puppet authorities have put Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza, Ghulam Ahmed Gulzar, Bilal Siddiqi, Muhammad Ashraf Laya, Umar Aadil Dar and Syed Imtiaz Haider under house arrest or in detention to prevent them from participating in the programmes announced in connection with the martyrdom anniversaries of Muhammad Afzal Guru and Muhammad Maqbool Butt.
The authorities have also imposed restrictions in Srinagar and some areas of north Kashmir including Sopore, the native area of Muhammad Afzal Guru, to prevent people from staging anti-India demonstrations while train service between Baramulla town of the Kashmir Valley and Banihal town in the Jammu region has been suspended.