April 5, 2017 1:31:31 am
Separatists have called for a shutdown in Srinagar and Anantnag on April 9 and 12, the respective bypoll dates for these Lok Sabha seats. In a joint statement, separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik said: “From 6 pm on April 8, people should close their shops and organise protest rallies and demonstrations.”
They urged people not to show the passion they had shown during 2016. People are getting killed, blinded and disabled everyday, they said, accusing mainstream parties of having “no conscience” and “only seeking votes to reach power”.
“Be it NC, PDP, Congress, PC or others, they talk one language when in Opposition and the exact opposite when in power,” they said. They said it was first the PDP that had waved the “green flag” before the Kashmiri people; now, it is the NC doing the same thing.
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