Srinagar: Normal life was disrupted Tuesday as markets, educational institutions and business establishments closed down in response to a strike call given by the pro-freedom leaders of both the sections of Hurriyat Conference to protest the arrival of the Indian Army.
It was on this day in 1947, the Indian Army landed in Kashmir to thwart an aggressive militant attack launched by the tribals believed to be Pakistan Army regulars.
For the 26th consecutive year, the Valley observed a complete shutdown against the landing of Indian army in the state on this day in 1947. The pro-freedom groups as well as militant organizations like Hizbul Mujhadeen, Al-Umar Mujhadeen and Lashkar-e-Toiba had called upon people to observe the event as Black Day. Even public transport stayed off the roads. Only a few private vehicles and a few auto rickshaws plied on the streets of Srinagar.
All the shops and business establishments remained shut while the students preferred to remain indoors as the educational institutions had decided in advance to windup their activities for Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the activists of All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Pakistan administered Kashmir held a demonstration and sit-in protest before the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) office at Rawalpindi on Tuesday to express solidarity with Kashmiris.
The Convenor of APHC, in a statement to a local news agency, CNS, said that it presented a memorandum to the UN military commander and reminded him about the human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. Memorandum urged the United Nations to play a positive and decisive role to address the situation in its real historical perspective, the statement said. It demanded withdrawal of troops and draconian laws, restoration of all civil liberty and release of political detainees to be followed by tripartite dialogue to facilitate a just and peaceful settlement of the dispute.
It is pertinent to mention here that on this day in 1947, India headed by Nehru on the request from Sheikh Abdullah airlifted its forces to Srinagar after the last monarch of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh singed the conditional Instrument of Accession with India.
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