Separatist leaders detained, shutdown hits life in Kashmir Valley
Srinagar, June 21: Authorities on Thursday placed senior separatist leaders under detention in the summer capital Srinagar to prevent their participation in a protest shutdown that derailed life in the Kashmir Valley.
Police took Muhammad Yasin Malik, Chairman of pro-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), into preventive custody here to stop him from taking out a protest march in the city.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani were placed under house arrest at their residences on the outskirts of Srinagar.
The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a grouping of separatists headed by Geelani, Mirwaiz Farooq and Malik, called for the shutdown against the killing of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari and continuing killings of civilians in Kashmir.
Bukhari, editor of "Rising Kashmir" newspaper, was shot dead along with two security guards in Srinagar on June 14.
Shops, public transport, other businesses and educational institutions remained shut on Thursday at most places in Srinagar while attendance in banks, post offices and government offices was thin due to non-availability of public transport.
Private transport and some three-wheelers, however, plied in uptown areas of Srinagar.
Taxis and buses carrying tourists to Sonamarg, Pahalgam and Gulmarg hill stations operated as usual. Train services were suspended in the Kashmir Valley as a precaution.
No incident of stone pelting was reported in the Valley.
The shutdown also derailed normal life in all other major cities and towns of the Valley, where a separatist campaign has been raging since 1989.
Despite the shutdown, Governor N.N. Vohra and all senior bureaucrats of the state government attended their offices in the Srinagar Civil Secretariat on Thursday.
Vohra had on Wednesday too visited the Civil Secretariat and was presented a guard of honour by police though June 20 was a public holiday in the Valley on account of the annual festival at the Mata Kheer Bhawani shrine, the holiest for Kashmiri Pandits.
Vohra took charge of the Jammu and Kashmir administration after the PDP-BJP coalition government collapsed following the BJP's withdrawal of support to the PDP.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Kharge has put 'full stop' to leadership speculation in Karnataka: Minister Parameshwara
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Friday said AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge has put a "full stop" on the issue of leadership change in the state.
Kharge's statement has a lot of significance and there ends the matter for now. Everyone in the party should respect and accept this, he said.
Parameshwara was referring to Kharge's statement on Thursday that there was no chief minister change in Karnataka "for now" and that the leadership issue in the state will be resolved soon.
Kharge's statement came amid speculation within the party and political circles about a possible decision on leadership change and cabinet reshuffle after May 4, once the results for assembly elections in four states and one union territory, along with bypolls to two assembly segments in Karnataka, are announced.
"Mallikarjun Kharge is our party's national president. He has a lot of experience. Several people, including me, have said that in the case of change (in leadership), if he (Kharge) comes (as CM), no one could speak in front of his experience and everyone would accept it. While replying to it, Kharge said that there is a chief minister now, and there is no question of change as of now," Parameshwara said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I welcome his (Kharge) statement because I feel he has expressed his opinion after a discussion involving him, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala (both AICC general secretaries). I may be right or wrong. I feel that his statement has a lot of significance. So that matter ends there for now."
Responding to a question on repeated statements by several party leaders regarding leadership change, the home minister said, what the AICC chief has said on the matter is final. It should be respected and accepted by all in the party. There is no meaning in interpreting it further.
"I cannot respond to what others say, but I can say my opinion. In my opinion, the AICC chief is the supreme authority in the party. He, along with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, are our high command. If the high command has said something, we should both respect and accept it. There ends the matter," he said.
Kharge has put a "full stop" on the issue, he further said, adding that, "When he has said there is no change. It is a full stop."
Responding to a question on Parameshwara's recent statement about Kharge becoming chief minister, the AICC chief on Thursday said, "You (media), he (Parameshwara), and people at the top say that it is better if I become CM. But more than fate, as per my ideology and my service to the party so far, Sonia Gandhi makes decisions regarding me."
He had further said, "But that question does not arise now. There is already a CM here. If Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and I together have to take any decision in that direction, it will take some time. Let's wait and see."
Kharge on Friday too said no date has been fixed yet to discuss a possible leadership change in Karnataka.
Supporters of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar have been insisting on his elevation in line with a reported power-sharing agreement with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah when the party won the 2023 Assembly elections. Some have even claimed that "sweet news" is expected by May 15, which is Shivakumar's birthday.
The leadership tussle within the ruling party has intensified amid speculation about a possible change of chief minister after the Congress government completed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, 2025.
The speculation has been fuelled by a reported "power-sharing" arrangement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar at the time of government formation in 2023.
