Hurriyat, Hizbul call for Republic Day strike

Both factions of Hurriyat Conference and Hizbul Mujahideen have called for a general strike on Republic Day.

Both factions of Hurriyat Conference and Hizbul Mujahideen have called for a general strike on Republic Day to show the international community that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are steadfast in their struggle for achieving the right to self determination.

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"People on both sides of Line of Control should observe a complete shutdown on January 26 to impress upon the world community that unless India fulfills the promises made to people of Jammu and Kashmir, they will continue their struggle," the moderate faction of the Hurriyat said in a statement in Srinagar.

The statement, which was issued after a meeting chaired by acting chairman Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, also called for maintaining sectarian harmony between Shias and Sunnis during the ongoing month of Muharram in order to foil the nefarious designs of vested interests.

The hardline faction, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, while calling for a strike said unless the Kashmir issue is resolved the ground situation in the state would not change.

"We invite the attention of the intelligentia of India to the question that is it justified to celebrate the Republic Day of a country which has usurped the democratic rights of Kashmiri people for the past 60 years?" a spokesman of the amalgam said.

He said Hurriyat was not inimical to the people of India nor against their celebrations of Republic Day.

Meanwhile, Hizb in a statement to a local news agency has also called for a complete shutdown on Republic Day.