News Analysis India

Tag: Lal Chowk

  • Rahul Bhat’s killing: Kashmiri Pandits take out protest march in Srinagar

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Kashmiri Pandits took out a protest march on Saturday against the killing of Rahul Bhat and staged a shit in front of the famous clock tower in Lal Chowk demanding justice for the slain government employee.

    Rahul Bhat (35), who had got the job of a clerk under the special employment package for migrants in 20120-11, was gunned down by terrorists inside the Tehsil office in Chadoora town on May 12. Kashmiri Pandits assembled near Bund in the Lal Mandi area of the city and held a puja for Bhat on the banks of the Jhelum river, following which they began to march towards Lal Chowk.

    After reaching Lal Chowk, the protesters held a sit-in demanding justice for Bhat and strict action against the authorities in Budgam as well as the assailants. Raising slogans against the administration, they also demanded that Kashmiri Pandits, who got jobs under the prime minister’s package, be relocated.

    Later, the protestors marched to the BJP’s state office in the Jawahar Nagar area of the city, held a sit-in outside it and raised slogans against the party. The protestors dispersed peacefully afterwards. Protests have been held at several places in Jammu and Kashmir over the killing of Bhat as well as the “failure” of the administration in providing security to Kashmiri Pandit employees.

  • Civilian killings: For first time in 30 years, women frisked at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Women were frisked by female CRPF constables in Lal Chowk area of the city, a first of its kind exercise in last 30 years, in the wake of civilian killings in Kashmir.

    The CRPF women checked the bags of female folk passing through the city centre Lal Chowk.

    While there was no resistance, some women expressed resentment, saying the exercise could have been done away from the public glare.

    ALSO READ: Non-locals jittery, keep watch on Jammu and Kashmir situation as civilian killings continue

    “Women carry many things which they keep private. The CRPF women should have erected a makeshift cubicle so that privacy was maintained,” Fareeda, a woman from Soura, said.

    She said she had no issues with the frisking but the manner in which it was done.

    The frisking of women folk has not been done before in Kashmir and is being undertaken following a spate of civilian killings in which non-local labourers have been targeted over the last few days.

  • Shia community split over J&K admin’s decision to ‘allow’ Muharram procession after 30 years

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: Divisions have appeared in the Shia community in Kashmir over the administration”s purported decision to allow symbolic Muharram procession in the Lal Chowk area here after a gap of three decades.

    All Jammu and Kashmir Shia Association has claimed the administration has decided to allow the procession after 30 years and has welcomed the move, but prominent Shia leader and former minister Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said the decision raises more questions than it answers.

    President, All Jammu and Kashmir Shia Association, Imran Reza Ansari said they welcome the decision to allow Muharram procession in Kashmir after a gap of three decades.

    “InshAllah (God willing) AJK Shia Association will lead the procession this year as per past practice,” he wrote on Twitter.

    Ansari invited president of Anjuman-e-Sharee Shian Aga Syed Hassan Al Moosavi — who has been associated with separatist politics for nearly three decades — to join the procession.

    The traditional Muharram procession used to pass through many areas of the city, including from Lal Chowk to Dalgate area, but has been banned since the eruption of militancy in 1990 as authorities maintain that the religious gathering has been used for propagating separatist politics.

    Mehdi raised questions over the administration”s intention to allow the symbolic procession from Abi Guzar to Lal Chowk.

    “There is list of decisions-taken in circulation, in which, if my reading of this order is correct, the administration has decided to allow the 10th Moharram procession from Abiguzar to Lal Chowk (a temporary and alternate route proposed in 2018) after a gap of 30 years,” Mehdi, who represented National Conference from Budgam assembly constituency for three terms, said.

    In a series of tweets, he said the decision has come at a time when the administration has called off the annual Amarnath yatra and the Eid prayers this year were not allowed at Jama Masjid and other important places by imposing the Disaster Management Act in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

    “Only a few days ago the IGP Kmr (Kashmir) told people to celebrate Eid ”at their homes” invoking Covid protocols. The Friday prayers at Jama Masjid have not been allowed for the last more than 100 Fridays and continue to be banned, again invoking Covid-19 protocols. The list goes on,” he said.

    Mehdi said given the fact that all other major religious gatherings, with no exception to any particular religion, continued to be banned, “this sudden isolated decision about 10th Moharram procession from Abiguzar to Lal Chowk, after a gap of 30 years, raises more questions than it answers”.

    “To answer those questions and to make it clear that there are no nefarious designs behind this decision, this 10th Moharram procession should be preceded by Friday prayers at Jama Masjid before this 10th Moharram. Friday prayers before this year”s 10th Moharram should precede,” he said.

    The Shia leader said if the Friday prayers and other major religious functions — across all religions — continue to be banned and “this particular procession suddenly encouraged in isolation”, “I see nefarious designs behind it”.

    “The people should not fall for this bait and into this trap,” he added.

    Mehdi said the responsibility lies with the administration to come clean over the issue.

    “Now, that the time for Eid prayer this years has passed. Lift the ban on Friday prayers at Jama Masjid too, like you suddenly took this decision and prove that there are no nefarious designs,” he said.

    While efforts to reach Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, K Pandurang Pole did not fructify, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Mohammad Ajaz Asad said he cannot comment over the issue as the district administration has not issued any such order.

  • Srinagar: Pheran caught in crossfire of security lens, right-wing tirade

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: After the February 19 militant attack in Srinagar in which a militant wearing a pheran shot dead two policemen, security personnel are at times asking civilians to remove the traditional cloak and pack it. 

    The Bajrang Dal and some voices from the BJP are calling for a ban on the use of pheran, but the saffron party says the call should be taken by security forces.

    There have been instances even in Lal Chowk and Hari Singh High Street where pheran wearers have been asked to remove their cloak for security reasons. 

    IG CRPF Srinagar sector Charu Sinha clarified that security personnel do frisking but there is no need to remove the pheran.

    “Security is tightened but insulting anybody is not the intention,” she said,  adding there has been no direction from authorities to men on ground to force civilians to remove their pheran during the frisking.

    Bajrang Dal leader Rakesh Bajrangi claimed 99 per cent grenade attacks in Kashmir have been carried out by those wearing pheran. 

    BJP leader Abhijeet Jasrotia also backed the call to ban the pheran. “Nothing is more precious than the lives of soldiers and policemen. … It should be banned in public places and government offices.”

    However, Kashmiris strongly oppose any attempt to ban the pheran, saying it is the identity of their culture. “We even wore it when militancy was at its peak. We have not given it up and nor will give it up,” National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said.