Srinagar
Businesses and shops remained close in many parts of Indian occupied Kashmir on Monday to mark the eighth anniversary of the secret execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru in New Delhi.
Unlike in the past, none of the groups which have long demanded the right to self-determination, had called for a strike on Monday.
Hundreds of armed police and paramilitary soldiers in riot gear patrolled the streets as most residents stayed indoors in Srinagar.
Indian forces at some checkpoints frisked pedestrians and searched private cars, while public transport was largely off the roads.
Many Kashmiris were incensed when Afzal Guru was secretly hanged on February 9, 2013, in a New Delhi jail on charges of involvement in a 2001 Parliament attack that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.
Guru is widely believed to have not received a fair trial, and his execution led to days of deadly anti-India protests in the Muslim-majority region.
Many people in the Kashmir Valley demand that Guru’s remains, currently buried within the jail compound, be returned to the region for burial.—KMS
