Curfew in Srinagar for Muharram Friday

SRINAGAR - Curfew will be clamped to maintain law and order in Srinagar city Friday when the main Shia Muharram procession is scheduled to be taken out here.

A preventive order issued Thursday evening by the Srinagar district magistrate said curfew would remain in force in seven police station areas of summer capital Srinagar Friday from 6 a.m. onwards and restrictions would also remain in place on traffic movement in Old City areas.

The order, however, said the restrictions would not apply to those Muharram processions for which permission had already been granted by the authorities.

The main Muharram procession is scheduled to be taken out by the Shia Muslims here Friday, coinciding with a similar worldwide tradition, according to which the main procession is taken out on the 10th day of the Muslim month of Muharram.

Ever since armed violence started here in the early 1990s, authorities have not allowed the main Muharram procession in Srinagar, which would normally be joined by thousands of local Shia Muslims.