Kashmir shuts against Shujhat Bukhari’s assassination, civilian killings

Srinagar: A shutdown was observed across Kashmir on Thursday against the killings of civilians in the firing of government forces and assassination of renowned Journalist Shujhat Bukhari. Government had made all arrangements and had deployed to thwart any protests.
The shutdown was called by joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik against the assassination of Shujhat Bukhari and the unabated civilian killings. The trio had termed the continuous killings of civilians in government forces’ firing as “systematic genocide of Kashmiris.”
Four civilians were killed in four days while unknown gunmen assassinated veteran journalist Syed Shujhat Bukhari in the heart of Srinagar city.
Chairman JKLF Muhammad Yasin Malik was detained and lodged in police station Kothibagh while chairman Hurriyat Conference (M) Miwaiz Umar Farooq was confined to his Nigeen residence. Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani continues to remain under house detention.
All commercial establishments remained closed in city centreLal Chowk. The movement of public and private transport remained thin in LalChowk. There was huge deployment of forces in the downtown areas and most of the roads were blocked by the forces by placing rolls of concertina wires to ensure no anti-state protest takes place.
Some shops were however open in areas like Shivpora, Sonawar, Airport, Pantha Chowk. Reports from the districts that include Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag (Islamabad) said that complete shutdown was observed.