Most shops at Srinagar’s main commercial hub and its adjoining markets remained shut on Wednesday, as Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik was awarded with a life imprisonment in a terror financing case by a court in New Delhi. The shutdown was observed in absence of any bandh call by separatists.
Security forces were deployed in large numbers in volatile pockets of the city “to ward off any protests”. Markets also remained closed in large parts of the old city, including Hawal, Nowhatta, Zaina Kadal, and Safa Kadal.
Protesters, including women, assembled at the residence of Malik in Maisuma in Srinagar. Malik’s sister was seen reciting the Quran, ahead of the verdict.
Protesters raised pro-Malik and pro-freedom slogans and many clashed with the security forces. Police used smoke shells to disperse the crowd.
Malik’s wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick, who is in Pakistan, has said he was facing “trumped up” charges.
“The fear of losing power over the people of Kashmir is driving the Indian government to take such harsh stances which have no legal base. India’s BJP wants to punish my husband to increase Modi’s vote bank and make the people of J&K leaderless. India must end these war crimes and politics of hatred and intolerance,” Ms. Malik said, in a tweet.
Incarcerated Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in a statement, said, “Malik since 1994 pursued peaceful and democratic means of conflict resolution. Malik actively participated in all negotiations held on Kashmir after 2000 under various regimes in New Delhi and Islamabad. Yet, he was arrested and has now been convicted in invented cases under draconian laws. Actually, he is being punished for his political beliefs on the J&K dispute and for representing the sentiments of its people.”
