Srinagar
Shops and businesses were shut in occupied Kashmir on Sunday and authorities imposed a lockdown in some parts of the region’s main city after Kashmiri fighters called for a strike to mark the execution anniversary of a Kashmiri fruit vendor, Mohammed Afzal Guru, who was convicted for an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi.
Hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled largely deserted streets in Srinagar. Authorities put old parts of the city under lockdown, with major roads blocked by razor wire and barricades in anticipation of anti-India protests and possible violence. Public transport was largely off the roads. Most Kashmiris were incensed when in 2013, Guru was secretly hanged in a New Delhi jail on charges of being involved in the December 2001 parliament attack that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.
Guru was on death row for 11 years. His family received a letter informing them of his imminent hanging two days after he was dead, but the letter, dated Feb 6, 2013, was mailed on Feb 8, a day before Guru’s execution.-AP
