Members of Jammu Kashmir Mass Movement, a separatist group, shout slogans from an Indian Police vehicle after they were detained during a protest in Srinagar, November 3, 2015.
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Indian authorities have detained key separatist leaders and hundreds of their supporters to prevent them from protesting during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kashmir this weekend.
A Kashmiri Muslim woman shouts slogans after Indian police detained…
The People’s Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday launched a crackdown on separatists ahead of Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s “Million March” rally on November 7. He tweeted that Modi’s “Srinagar rally will be historic – for the number of people arrested to make the rally possible”. “That’s disappointing as we want things to move on the political front as well”.
Assuring the people that the government would not allow anyone to take the law into his own hands, the Chief Minister made a reference to the State Cabinet’s resolution which unanimously condemned the killing of Zahid Rasool Bhat, a trucker who succumbed to burn injuries after a mob set his truck on fire in Udhampur last month.
Other separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi and others, have supported Geelani’s call for the march to coincide with Modi’s rally. “We believe the PM’s outreach to the valley will be received positively and the time will soon come when these families will be able to return”, a senior RSS leader, who deals with Kashmir, said.
He said the AIP will welcome the Prime Minister by hoisting black flags during his visit to the state.
Sayeed said while he had offers of unconditional support from the Congress and the National Conference to form the government following a hung verdict in Assembly polls previous year, he chose to go with the BJP as he saw an opportunity to change the destiny of the state as well as respect the mandate his now-coalition partner had won in Jammu region.
Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full.
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More than 70,000 people have been killed so far in the violence, majority by Indian forces.
