Strike against JKLF ban hits normal life in Kashmir

Shops and business establishments remained closed while public transport was off the roads in most parts of the Valley due to the strike called by the Joint Resistance Leadership, officials said.

Normal life was affected in Kashmir Sunday due to a strike called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), an amalgam of separatist groups, to protest against the ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) led by Yasin Malik, officials said.

ecurity personnel stands guard during strike called by the separatist groups, to protest against the ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) led by Yasin Malik, in Srinagar on Sunday.(PTI Photo)

Shops and business establishments remained closed while public transport was off the roads in most parts of the Valley due to the strike called by the Joint Resistance Leadership, they said.

The officials, however, said the strike call evoked little response in some parts of the Valley as the weekly flea market, locally known as Sunday market, operated normally.

This is the second organisation in Jammu and Kashmir which has been banned this month.

Earlier, the Centre had banned the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir.

The Yasin Malik-led Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was banned on Friday for a series of violent acts and being in the forefront of separatist activities in the militancy-hit state since 1988, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba had said.

Separatists Saturday called for a strike against the Centre’s decision to ban the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front , saying it was “undemocratic” and “political vendetta”.

“The Government of India’s decision of banning the JKLF for five years is highly authoritarian, autocratic and pure political vendetta,” the Joint Resistance Leadership said in a statement.

“The way the Government of India is announcing bans and crackdowns on the organisations associated with the Kashmir struggle, arresting the leadership and slapping them with draconian Public Safety Act (PSA), killing youth in custody .... exposes their hollow claims of democracy,” it added.

The Joint Resistance Leadership said by imposing ban on organisations and booking separatist leaders in “fake” cases , the government “cannot change the reality of the Kashmir issue”.