Hurriyat issues 11-day protest schedule
PTI
SRINAGAR, SEPT 14
Hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has issued a curious 11-day protest schedule asking people of Kashmir to carry out normal activities of life from dusk to dawn on strike days.
As per the schedule, only two days — September 19 and 22 — have been exempted from strikes and protests by the Geelani-led Hurriyat faction which is spearheading the ongoing agitation in the Valley.
The striking point in the protest schedule is that the hardliners have asked the people of the valley to carry out day to day activities from 7 pm to 7 am on the strike days.
“All business establishments, including manufacturing units, flour mills and cement factories will remain open from 7 pm to 7 am,” the statement issued by the Hurriyat said.
It also said shops and other business establishments can do the normal business during night hours. Transporters can ply normally during night, it added.
Geelani has called for a march to the security forces’ camps on September 21 for holding peaceful protests to highlight their demands.
The Kashmir Valley has been rocked by violent protests since June 11 following the killing of a teenager during alleged firing by security forces here. The unrest has so far claimed 88 lives.
All party meet: Meanwhile, groping for a solution to stem the Kashmir unrest, the Centre today was looking to evolve a consensus at the all party meeting tomorrow and to initiate a political process for a dialogue but security forces insisted on “legal protection” in tackling the situation.
The all party meeting, which was decided by the Cabinet Committee on Security yesterday, may be followed by another round of CCS tomorrow.
The government sources said the all party meeting and the CCS was part of a broad-based approach to finding out a long term solution to the Jammu and Kashmir problem and was not unidimensional in approach with revocation or dilution of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) as a single point agenda.
The sources said the meeting would aim at taking confidence building measures (CBM) keeping a long term view while addressing issues like trust and governance deficit.
The hope of the government, the sources said, is that the current round of talks would lead to resuming the dialogue process with all shades of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir.
As the government grappled with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s demand for withdrawal for AFSPA, the sources said “No one is taking away the legal protection provided to soldiers.”
The Government’s position came on a day when Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said a soldier, to perform his duty efficiently, “deserves all the legal protection” that he could get. The CCS yesterday had deferred a decision on the AFSPA
issue.
“I am sure the government is sensitised to this problem and whatever decision they will take I am sure it will be the correct one,” Naik, who is also the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee said.
The government sources said the agenda for the meeting covers issues like measures for initiating talks with all interested parties in the State including the Hurriyat. A parliamentary delegation may also visit Jammu and Kashmir, the sources said. Government sources while saying that the issue of the AFSPA would come up at the deliberations maintained that reports of dilution of powers of the army were not correct and that effort is aimed at making it more humane.
Sources said the effort is to make AFSPA, which has been drawn from a 1941 British era law, more humane.
This is the only Act which talks about ‘even to the extent of causing death’ and the aim is to to remove the reference to death, they said.
Defence Minister A K Antony said, “Important decisions have to be taken after carefully assessing all aspects… before we take a final decision, we will take into confidence all the major parties so that everybody is involved.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set the tone for its strategy at the meeting with senior leader L K Advani opposing any dilution of AFSPA or withdrawal of troops, saying it would mean “surrendering before Islamabad’s strategy of breaking India’s unity.”
Meanwhile, Omar dismissed rumours about his quitting office following “disappointment” over the Centre not taking a decision on crucial issues. The core group of his party—the National Conference—also had an emergency session in Srinagar to evolve its strategy at tomorrow’s all party meeting.
