Valley under curfew

The curfew enforced in Kashmir for the second day has been successful in thwarting the separatist-backed Kashmir Coordination Committee's ‘Azaadi’ march at Lal Chowk, reports Rashid Ahmad.

The curfew enforced in Kashmir for the second day on Monday has been successful in thwarting the separatist-backed Kashmir Coordination Committee's (KCC) ‘Azaadi’ march at Lal Chowk.

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Though the day passed off peacefully, youth in north Kashmir burnt an effigy of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari for terming Kashmiri militants as "terrorists".

While CRPF and local police personnel manned the streets in Srinagar, the Army was called out to enforce curfew in many rural towns and villages of Kashmir.

Except for the attempts made by youth in Srinagar city's Safakadal area and Baramulla town to defy curfew, the day passed off peacefully.

At Lal Chowk, the venue of the march, police and CRPF had erected barricades and adjoining areas were also sealed off with iron gates and barbed wires.

"The march was peaceful. India is claiming to be world's largest democracy and follower of Gandhi's non-violence philosophy. By sabotaging peaceful march, it stands exposed now," a Cordination Committee statement said.

Most of the top separatist and their second rung leadership were either put under house arrest or taken into preventive custody and shifted to undisclosed locations on Monday.