SRINAGAR - In occupied Kashmir, the Joint Resistance Leadership has called for a complete shutdown across the territory on Saturday against the first phase of sham panchayat elections.
The leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued in Srinagar, today, urged people to reject the election drama in the same way they rejected the local bodies’ elections by staying indoors. The leaders also called for the strike in the poll-bound areas on their scheduled dates.
Meanwhile, Indian police arrested a woman and her two brothers during search operations in Srinagar. The woman was arrested at Lawaypora checkpoint on Srinagar-Baramulla highway, while her two brothers were detained during a raid on their house in Khunmoh area of Srinagar. Indian troops launched a cordon and search operation in Tral area of Pulwama district, today (Wednesday).
A media report citing the concerned authorities revealed that, at present, more than 1900 innocent children are facing fake cases, mostly pertaining to stone pelting, across the occupied territory.
The illegally detained senior Hurriyat leader and Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Muslim League, Masarrat Alam Butt was slapped with the 37th draconian law, Public Safety Act, and was shifted to Hira Nagar jail in Jammu, today.
The fresh Public Safety Act, which is 37th in the series, was invoked by the Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, today. Such detention is termed by the human rights organizations as the revolving-door-detention where a person is booked under new detention order after the earlier order is quashed by the court of the occupied territory.
Masarrat Aalam Butt who spearheaded the 2010 uprising was arrested in October, the same year.