Ban orders in Srinagar to thwart separatist rally

Authorities today Saturday imposed restrictions in parts of summer capital Srinagar to prevent a separatist called rally.

Separatists including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani, Muhammad Yasin Malik and others have called for a public rally to the martyrs graveyard in Eidgah area of old city Srinagar today.

"Restrictions have been imposed in areas falling under the jurisdiction of seven police stations in Srinagar city today. The police stations whose areas shall remain under restrictions include Khanyar, Nowhatta, M R Gunj, Rainawari, Safa Kadal, Maisuma and Nigeen," Farooq Ahmad Lone, district magistrate Srinagar told IANS.

"The restrictions are purely of prohibitory nature and have been imposed to maintain law and order in the city," Lone added.

This has been done to commemorate the deaths of two senior separatist leaders killed by unidentified assassins.

While Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, father of Mirwaiz Umer, was killed in his uptown Nigeen residence on 21 May 1990, another senior separatist leader, Abdul Gani Lone was killed in the Eidgah martyrs graveyard in Srinagar on 21 May 2002.

The separatist are blaming the Indian intelligence agencies for these murders while the government said these killings were the result of internecine rivalry between various armed separatist groups in Kashmir.

Contingents of police and paramilitary forces in full riot gear have been deployed in areas placed under restrictions to ensure that the separatists are prevented from creating a law and order situation in the city.

Saturday being a public holiday in the state because of Buddha Purnima, educational institutions, government offices, banks and post offices are closed in Jammu and Kashmir.