Separatists brace for clash with J&K govt

The Hurriyat Conference is bracing for a major showdown with the Omar Abdullah government over the Martyrs Day commemoration in Srinagar on Wednesday.

Both hardline and moderate factions of the Hurriyat have called for a hartal and a march to the Naqshband Sahib graveyard in Old City, where the chief minister is scheduled to pay tributes to the martyrs of the 1931 uprising.

Martyrs Day is observed on July 13 in memory of the 22 Kashmiris shot dead by soldiers of the Dogra rulers in 1931, which marks the beginning of the uprising against the monarchy in the state.

“The 1931 martyrs laid the foundation for the freedom struggle,” Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said, calling on people to assemble at the Jama Masjid on Wednesday for the march.
Sources said the government is unlikely to allow the march as it does not want the separatists to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the Valley.

To prevent the Mirwaiz from leading the march, the government placed him under house arrest on Tuesday.