Valley tense, security tight over Yasin verdict

SRINAGAR:  Srinagar remains engulfed in an uneasy calm as security across the Valley has been tightened after the NIA court awarded life imprisonment to separatist leader and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Gupkar Alliance termed the judgement as “unfortunate and a setback to peace efforts”  and suggested that he should avail all legal opportunities available to contest the verdict.

Security across the Valley has been beefed up, and mobile internet is said to have been suspended in some areas of Srinagar. Ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict, all the shops in the city centre Lal Chowk, Maisuma and downtown Srinagar remained closed on Wednesday. 

Malik’s family members and neighbours staged a protest in support of him at Maisuma, where he hails from. The youth of the area raised slogans and pelted stones on the security personnel, who fired tear gas shells to disperse them. 

The security personnel later sealed the Maisuma area to prevent further clashes. Police drones hovered over Maisuma and adjoining areas to monitor the situation. The separatist politics in Kashmir were weakened after the revocation of Article 370, as most of the top and middle rung separatist leaders are under detention. The chairman of the moderate Hurriyat faction, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has been under house detention since August 5, 2019.

Malik, along with Mirwaiz and former Hurriyat chairman late Syed Ali Geelani, had been spearheading the separatist movement since 2016 under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL). Meanwhile, the five-party People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) termed the life imprisonment given to Malik as “unfortunate and a setback to the efforts for peace”.

Families, neighbours come out in support
Yasin Malik’s family members and neighbours staged a protest in support of him at Maisuma, where he hails from. The youth of the area raised slogans and pelted stones on the security personnel, who fired tear gas shells to disperse them.