Separatists, traders call for strike against Udhampur incident

                        
 

                                       

  

Srinagar, Oct 11: Hurriyat-G chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani Sunday called for complete shutdown across Kashmir Valley on Monday against the attacks on Kashmiri truckers in Udhampur.

Immediately after returning from New Delhi, Geelani condemned the Udhampur incident and appealed people to observe complete shutdown against the attack on Kashmiri truckers.

Pertinently, three persons, including a policeman, received burn injuries when a Kashmir-bound truck was attacked with a petrol bomb and set ablaze in Udhampur on Friday evening following which six persons have been arrested.

Terming, Udhampur incident as sheer “hooliganism”, Geelani said that some communal forces were trying to create regional divide which he said must be strongly protested.

“These communal forces have two motives behind such incident – one, that they want to go for economic blockade of Kashmir, and second, that they want to show the freedom- struggle of Kashmiris is as a communal issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) has also called for “Kashmir Bandh” on Monday to protest against the burning of Kashmir- bound truck in Udhampur. The call for shutdown was also supported by Hurriyat-M and some other separatist groups. 

KTMF amalgam of various trade bodies – have called for complete shutdown across Kashmir on Monday to protest the “murderous assault” on Kashmiri truckers in Udhampur.

The traders, who also staged protest demonstrations at Press Enclave on Sunday, said “Two Kashmiri truckers were set on fire by a mob in Shakti Nagar area of Udhampur on Friday night”.

In a statement, KTMF president Mohammad Sadiq Baqal, who led a protest in Srinagar against the assault, appealed people to observe a complete shutdown on Monday.

Hurriyat-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah also supported the strike call given by KTMF.

In a statement here, while terming the attack on a Kashmiri truckers by petrol bomb at Udhampor as “terrorism supported by the rulers”, Yasin Malik said that this attack has once again proved that “PDP-led rulers are actually enemies of Muslims and Kashmiris, and Kashmiris are not safe even in their own land now.”

President Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Association, Bashir Ahmad Bashir also supported the call given by the KTMF and asked people to observe complete shutdown, as did Downtown Contractors Association.

Another trade body – Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) said such attacks point to “criminal conspiracy hatched by vested interests against the Kashmiris and is aimed to destabilize the state”.

 

By: Kashmir Images