In occupied Kashmir, the normal life remains crippled, today, due to complete shutdown against the holding of so-called Indian parliamentary elections in the territory and brutal measures against the Kashmiri people and their leadership.
Call for the shutdown has been given by the Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. It is also aimed at registering protest against the victimization and harassment of Hurriyat leaders and their kin by India’s infamous National Investigation Agency (NIA), the closure of Kashmir’s main highway for civilians for two days in a week and attack by Indian police and troops on inmates at Srinagar Central Jail.
All shops, business establishments and educational institutions are closed while attendance in government and private offices is very thin. Transport is also off the road in the occupied territory.
The NIA is harassing Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Syed Ali Gilani’s two sons in the name of questioning in connection with the false cases registered against them.
The JRL in a statement issued in Srinagar appealed to the people of the occupied territory to stay away from the polling. Polling for the first phase of the five-phased sham polls in the occupied territory is currently underway in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency.
The JRL has also called for shutdown in areas which are going to polls in the valley in subsequent phases of the farcical elections.
