SRINAGAR: In occupied Kashmir, complete shutdown is being observed, today, to condemn India’s fiddling with the State Subject Law Article 35-A, ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, arrest of Muhammad Yasin Malik and other Hurriyat leaders under draconian Public Safety Act and raids by India’s National Investigation Agency in the territory.

Call for the shutdown has been given by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The JRL has also called for peaceful demonstrations after Juma prayers, today, to register protest against the stepped up Indian stat terrorism in the territory. All shops and business establishments are closed while transport is off the road in the occupied territory.

The occupation authorities have imposed restrictions in several areas of Srinagar including Maisuma, Rainawari, Khanyar, Maharaj Gunj and Safa Kadal by deploying Indian troops and police personnel in strength to prevent people from staging anti-India demonstrations. While Syed Ali Gilani continues to remain under house arrest at his Hyderpora residence since 2010, the authorities have also put Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house detention at his Nigeen residence in Srinagar.

The JRL in a statement in Srinagar said that the spree of arrests, ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, attempts to tinker with hereditary state subject law Article 35-A, and intimidating NIA raids deserved stiff protest and resistance by the Kashmiris. It said that these arbitrary arrests and detentions could not deter the Hurriyat leaders and activists and the people of Jammu and Kashmir from pursuing their ongoing freedom movement. Agencies