Shutdown in parts of Srinagar, clashes in Maisuma ahead of court verdict on Yasin Malik
Mobile internet suspended in parts of Kashmir
Srinagar: A spontaneous shutdown was observed in several parts of Srinagar city including downtown and Lal Chowk ahead of NIA court’s verdict on the quantum of sentence for the separatist leader Yasin Malik, convicted in a terror funding case.
As the reports reached here that NIA had sought death sentence for Malik, people, mostly women, started rushing towards Malik’s Maisuma residence while some youth clashed with the security forces.
Scores of people, including women, assembled at Malik’s residence at Maisuma, a short distance from Lal Chowk city centre, and raised slogans in support of the separatist leader, the officials said, adding that the protesters took out a protest march around the area.
The protesters tried to move towards Maisuma Chowk and clashed with security forces, they said.
Some of the protesters pelted stones on the security forces, who fired teargas shells to disperse the crowd, the officials said.
However, there were no reports of any injury, they said.
Most of the shops and business establishments in Maisuma and adjoining areas, including in Lal Chowk, were shut.
Security forces were deployed in strength in the city to avoid any law and order problems, officials said.
Malik, the chief of banned JKLF, was on May 19 convicted by a Delhi court under the stringent anti-terror law in a case related to funding of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, after he didn’t contest the charges which was seen as pleading guilty.
Special Judge Praveen Singh had then posted the matter for May 25 to announce the quantum of punishment and also directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to assess Malik’s financial condition to determine the amount of fine that could be imposed.
Meanwhile, mobile internet was suspended in parts of Kashmir as a precautionary measure after a court awarded life imprisonment to separatist leader Yasin Malik in a terror funding case on Wednesday, officials said.
They said the mobile internet has been suspended across all network service providers in the Valley.
However, the officials said, internet services were working on fixed-line, including fiber and broadband.
The officials said the decision to suspend the mobile internet was taken as a precautionary measure after Malik’s sentencing by a court in Delhi.
Yasin Malik’s sister recites Quran while standing on the window of her home in Maisuma on Wednesday while waiting for the verdict of NIA court hearing a terror funding case against her brother. Photo/Javed Khan
