Kashmir on the edge on Wani’s death anniversary

• Hurriyat leadership gives strike call for entire week

Kashmir is on the edge on the eve of the first anniversary of the martyrdom of poster boy Burhan Muzaffar Wani being observed in across the divided Kashmiri state.

In Indian-held Kashmir, the situation is tense where the leadership of the Hurriyat Conference has given a call of strike for entire week from July 8-13. Under the schedule announced by the Hurriyat leadership, strikes and protests have been planned in across the IoK while the major rally would be taken out in Tral.

The Hurriyat leadership has already been detained and they were not allowed to even offer Friday prayers. In a bid to thwart the protests on the eve of the first anniversary, India has announced to send reinforcements to the held territory where over 800,000 troops already have launched massive crackdowns. According to the announcement, 21,000 additional forces have been deployed across the disputed state.

All educational institutions, offices have already been shut across the state while more troops are being deployed. DIG Narender Paul of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) told journalists in Srinagar that the security forces were well prepared for every situation. “We’ll try our best to maintain peace and normalcy,” he said. Restriction would be placed in five city police stations today.

On the other hand, the Indian Army has sealed all routes leading towards Tral in South Kashmir. Tral, being the birthplace of Burhan Wani – the most decorated and most loved Kashmiri freedom fighter – is the centre where the protesters and the forces are set to clash. Strict curfew has been imposed in Tral and other parts ahead of his first death anniversary.

First time in the history, the authorities did not allow faithful to offer Azaan or prayers in Faizpanah Astaan in Tral. The Indian Army has also drawn a warning line in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district directing people not to cross over to travel toward Tral. Same measures have been taken in other districts where major roads have been sealed to block the mass movement towards Tral.

On Friday, people took out massive rallies soon after the prayers in Trehgam and Anantnag as the Indian Army clashed with the protesters. The clash left dozens injured. Till the filing of this report, the clashes continued. The mobile internet services have been totally blocked in across the state.

Moreover, social networking sites will be blocked on broadband. In Srinagar, the authorities have announced that the traffic movement on Srinagar-Bandipora Road will be restricted for Saturday. The traffic movement will be restricted to and for on the Srinagar-Bandipora on the eve of Wani’s maiden anniversary.

Ahead of the anniversary, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman Syed Shabbir Shah has announced ‘Tamgha-e-Jurrat’ for Burhan Wani. He announced the posthumous title “Tamgha-e-Jurrat” (Star of Courage) for the slain Kashmiri icon for his courage, steadfastness, and immense contribution to the freedom movement.

He also called for remembering the birthplace of Burhan Wani as Burhan Valley. Shah, as per a statement issued to press, made the announcement after a high-level meeting called at his party’s Sanat Nagar headquarters. Back in Tral, people throng the house and grave of Burhan Wani on Friday. Wani has become an icon of freedom struggle as he shunned the cloak of anonymity and the image of a teenager and had captured the imagination of the younger Kashmiri generation.

Pictures of the innocent-faced youth could be found in almost every youngster’s mobile phone. “The change that Kashmir witnessed after Burhan was martyred is unparalleled,” Muhammad Muzaffar Wani, Burhan’s father, told a Kashmiri journalist in Tral recently. He said it was a change one day he hoped would bring some change in the attitude of powers that be.

“Since 9 July, when Burhan’s bullet-ridden body was lowered into a grave in Tral, this place has become some sort of a shrine for people. Dozens of people make a sort of pilgrimage to the grave almost every day,” said Fayaz, a shopkeeper near the Eidgah in Sharifabad, Tral.

“They pick soil from Burhan’s grave and rub it on their bodies with the belief that it will cure their ailments,” he said. “There has never been a day when we did not turn up at the graveyard,” Amir Hussain, a resident of Tral said.