Strike in Kashmir Valley enters 7th day; Geelani arrested

Srinagar, June 7 (PTI) The separatist-sponsored strike in
the Kashmir valley in protest against last week's alleged rape
and murder of two women in Shopian entered the seventh day
Sunday even as hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani
was arrested and booked for conspiring to spread violence.

At least eight persons including four women were injured
as police fired tear gas shells and used batons to disperse
protesters led by separatist Dukhtaran-e-Millat after they
defied prohibitory orders and clashed with security personnel
here. The demonstrators led by Millat chairperson Asiya
Indrabi tried to enter Eidgah in interior city to protest
against the women's death, officials sources said.

Geelani was picked Saturday night from his Hyderpora
residence followed by his trusted aide Naeem Khan. Both were
booked Sunday. Geelani was arrested hours after he announced a
week-long protest against the incident, officials said. He is
likely to be booked under Public Safety Act also.

The bodies of Asiya (17) and her sister-in-law Nelofar
(22) were fished out of a stream in Shopian, 52 km from here,
last week after they went missing from the orchard.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem and forensics tests failed to
give any conclusive evidence of rape of the two women as it
was not possible by only analysing a slide containing semen,
the sources said.

On the other hand, shops and business establishments
remained partially open even as the family members of the two
women are on a hunger strike to demand action against the
guilty.

Geelani had asked people to march to Shopian Monday and
hold peaceful demonstrations till Friday when the future
course of action would be announced.

As the situation remained tense, police and paramilitary
personnel patrolled the deserted streets of Srinagar and major
towns of the valley to maintain law and order.

Meanwhile, the government directed all local cable news
channels to restrict their bulletins to 15 minutes daily.

The decision was conveyed by the district administration
at a meeting with the editors, proprietors and correspondents
of Srinagar-based channels.

"We only want to ensure that the Cable Act is not
violated by broadcast of objectionable programmes," Deputy
Commissioner (Srinagar) Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo said.

Police have also filed an FIR against a local news agency
- Current News Service - for allegedly transmitting wrong
information through its SMS service.

The FIR has been registered in Kothi Bagh police station
against the agency for transmitting a news item -- "Shopian
tense, more than 100 protesters injured", police said. PTI SKL
JVN
NNNN




The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.