Restrictions in parts of Srinagar: Police

Srinagar: Restrictions in parts of Srinagar continued for the second day today to maintain law and order in the city in wake of proposed march of the separatists to Lal Chowk city centre and to the local office of the United Nations here.

While restrictions continued in downtown (interior areas of the city), the curbs have also been imposed in the police station areas of Maisuma, Ram Munshi Bagh and Kothi Bagh in the city, a police official said.

He said the restrictions were imposed to maintain law and order in view of the call for a march to Lal Chowk and to the office of United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) at Sonwar here.

The official said security forces have sealed all entry points leading to Lal Chowk by putting up barricades at various places.

The security forces have also been deployed in strength in sensitive areas of the city and elsewhere in the Valley to thwart any protests.

A joint statement yesterday said that separatists including chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and JKLF chief Yasin Malik would lead marches from different places after Friday prayers towards Lal Chowk.

From Lal Chowk, they will go to the UNMOGIP office where a memorandum would be presented to the UN office wherein the world body would be urged to pressurise the Centre into returning the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat, which are lying at Delhi's Tihar Jail, back to Kashmir, the statement said.

While Guru was hanged and buried in the Tihar on 9th February 2013, Bhat was hanged on February 11, 1984.

Meanwhile, the separatist Geelani continues to remain under house arrest, and Mirwaiz was barred from leaving his Nigeen residence this morning, the police official said.