Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Nov 26: With people not interested in 'hartal' politics, the separatists in Kashmir are threatening employees for attending the duties and shopkeepers for opening their shops despite shutdown calls.
On Monday, when separatists called for shutdown, the government offices were open and traffic was playing normally at most of the places.
"Except few places, there was normal day across the Valley on Monday. These separatists are threatening employees, traders, and transporters for not adhering their shutdown calls," a police official said.
The official said that realizing there were very less people who adhere to their diktats, the separatists have been slamming the employees for attending their duties. For the last few weeks, the separatists in their statements claimed that shutdown calls from separatists was not affecting government functioning.
The separatists had earlier invited traders, civil society members, members of the Bar association and members from other separatist groups for the meetings.
"People want end to hartal politics. This must come to an end so that people live a normal life," a separatist leader said. "We have become irrelevant as people want to live with normal activities. But despite that separatists are playing their hartal politics," he said.
Insiders said there is mounting pressure on the separatists that calling for shutdowns have achieved nothing but only destruction on the killings of militants.
The representatives from trade bodies have conveyed to Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other separatist leaders several times that the economy of the Valley which is majorly dependent on tourism had hit rock bottom and if the situation continued be like this the tourism industry in Kashmir would be ruined beyond retrieval.
The schools are shut from weeks. There are also thousands of people associated with the tourism industry, handicrafts, horticulture and various other companies who have lost their jobs.
Shahid Ahmad, a businessman, said that there was pressure on separatists over calling of shutdowns on militants' killings.
"Militants are there to die. I fail to understand over calling shutdown on militants' killings like they did on Sunday," Shahid said.
On Sunday, six militants including three district commanders and an army soldier were killed during a gunfight in Shopian district following which separatists gave the shutdown call.
The Shopian gunfight took place two days after three commanders of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen were among six militants killed in a gunfight with forces in Bijbehara area of Anantnag district on Friday.
A police official that army, special operations group of J&K police and Central Reserve Force cordoned off Batgund-Kapran village in Shopian late on Saturday night following "specific inputs" about presence of militants, belonging to both Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba outfits, in the area.
"As the searching of suspected residential houses began, militants hiding in a house opened fire on forces," the official said, adding that the forces immediately "returned the fire, triggering a gunfight that lasted for nearly eight hours". |
