By Zahid Rafiq
SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) – For the third day in a row Saturday, the disputed Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a complete shutdown.
The shutdown marks the anniversary of the hanging of pro-Independence leader, Mohammad Maqbool Butt, by Indian authorities in 1984.
While the Indian government imposed curfew-like restrictions in several parts of the disputed region in response to the shutdown called for by the region’s pro-independence leadership, there were reports of protests and clashes from several areas in Kashmir.
Several pro-independence Kashmiri leaders were arrested or put under house arrest by the Indian forces on Friday as they were set to march toward the United Nations Military Observers Group in Kashmir to hand over a memorandum seeking independence from Indian rule.
Maqbool Butt, a pro-independence leader who is seen in Kashmir as a symbol of independence against foreign rule, was hanged in New Delhi’s Tihar prison by Indian authorities on Feb 11, 1984.
Butt was buried on the prison premises and none of his remains were returned to his family. A demand for his remains has resonated throughout Kashmir for years.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.
The two countries have fought three wars — in 1948, 1965 and 1971 — since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.
Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in IHK have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
More than 70,000 Kashmiris have been killed so far in the violence, most of them by Indian forces. India maintains over half a million soldiers in the IHK.
