By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, October 27 (IslamOnline) - Just as the last hurdles were
removed for the formation of the next government in Jammu &
Kashmir, Kashmir Valley observed a general strike today in response to
a call given by the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) , a
conglomerate of 23 secessionist parties and organisations.
In
the run-up to the strike, a number of APHC leaders were arrested
between yesterday evening and this morning. The detainees included
APHC's senior leader Moulvi Mohammad Abbas Ansari who was placed under
house arrest this morning when a police party encircled his house at
Nawakadal in Srinagar and ordered him to stay indoor. Ansari is
chairman of Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen.
Ansari's
house arrest came within hours of the preventive detention of Jammu
& Kashmir Liberation Front's acting chairman Javid Ahmed Mir and
eight other Hurriyat leaders Saturday night.
Mir
is routinely arrested and later released almost every week. Whenever
he ventures out to speak and meet people, he is taken into custody
only to be released in the evening or next day.
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Empty shikaras used by tourists in Dal Lake
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Besides
Mir, those detained Saturday night included Shahid-ul-Islam of Awami
Action Committee, Abdul Khaliq and Riyaz Aahmad of Islamic Students
League, Ghulam Nabi Najjar, Mohammad Ismail and Sirajuddin of People's
League and Mohamnmad Altaf of JKLF. Chairman of Human Rights Front
Mohammad Ahsan Antoo was also taken into preventive custody, sources
said.
In
Srinagar and other major towns of the Valley, most of the shops and
business establishments remained closed and only few vehicles plied,
sources said. No buses or taxis were on the roads and no businesses
were open.
The
general strike was called on the 55th anniversary of the Indian troops
landing in the princely state of Kashmir in 1947 to repulse attacks of
tribal raiders and soldiers from Pakistan.
This
day, October 27, has been for decades marked by strikes and shutdowns
in the Indian-administered Kashmir where secessionist militants have
fought since 1988 to wrest the Himalayan region from Indian control to
join Pakistan or become an independent state.
According
to Indian figures over 35,000 and according to militant and Pakistani
figures, over 70,000 people have died since militancy erupted in
Kashmir.
