Violence mars Eid ul-Azhain Kashmir Valley

Stray incidents of stone-pelting marked Eid-ul-Azha in Srinagar on Saturday even as the moderate Hurriyat Conference passed a resolution at a massive Eid congregation demanding demilitarisation from Jammu and Kashmir as a prerequisite for settling the vexed Kashmir issue.

Protestors clashed with security forces after Eid prayers at Eidgah prompting them to use baton charge to disperse the crowd. Eyewitnesses said soon after the Eid prayers, some youth assembled outside the Eidgah in old city and pelted stones on the forces.

Most of the top separatist leaders including Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under house arrest as a precautionary measure.

However, second rung Hurriyat leaders reached Eidgah and got the resolution passed demanding ‘withdrawal of troops’ as a precondition for settling the Kashmir issue. “The gathering demands that the process of troops withdrawal from J&K to create conducive conditions for the permanent solution to the vexed Kashmir dispute”, the resolution said.

The move was aimed at to protest the 65th anniversary of Indian army’s landing in Kashmir.