Kashmir separatists, authorities now in ‘calender war’

SRINAGAR - The separatists asked people to resume normal life Saturday while the authorities clamped curfew across the Kashmir Valley, a trend now being termed as a “calendar war” by the common man here.

Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani once again amended his ‘protest calendar’, appealing for two days of normalcy Saturday and Sunday as authorities had not allowed people to come out of their homes Thursday and Friday — days on which Geelani had earlier asked people to resume routine activities of life.

“Curfew continues in Srinagar city and other towns of the valley and it will remain in force till further orders,” a senior police officer said here.

The common man has now started calling the imposition of curfew by authorities and the announcements of normalcy for a day or two by Geelani as the “calendar war”.

“This is simply a calendar war between the government and Geelani sahib,” said Abdul Majeed, a resident of Srinagar city’s Rajbagh uptown area.

“They impose curfew when he announces normalcy and he announces protests when authorities want us to resume normalcy,” he added.

For nearly three months since June 11, when the present unrest started, Geelani’s hardline Hurriyat group has been issuing protest calendars as part of its ‘Quit Kashmir’ campaign.

Locals strictly followed these protest calendars announced by the separatists on a weekly basis, calling for five days of protests and shutdowns and two days of normalcy in a week.

“The administration imposes curfew on the days Geelani calls for protests and lifts curfew and restrictions when Geelani asks people to return to normal routine. An impression was somehow created that the separatists called all the shots here and the authorities were simply responding to their protest calendar,” said a senior intelligence officer here.

“Now the administration has decided to defeat Geelani’s protest calendar,” he added.

The hardline Hurriyat group, which met here late Friday, issued a statement quoting Geelani that the protest calendar to be issued by the group Sunday would keep in mind that the Class 10 and 12 board exams would not be affected.