Yasin Malik rubishes reports about meeting PDP leaders
Srinagar, June 7: Senior Jammu and Kahsmir separatist leader Muhammad Yasin Malik on Thursday trashed media reports that he had met leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Reacting to media reports that he had met two senior leaders of the PDP in order to motivate him for talks with the Centre, Malik said: "India and its stooges like PDP are desperate to gain some credibility among Kashmiris by spreading fake news of meeting separatist leaders."
Giving details of what fuelled these speculations, Malik said he had been to a local restaurant on May 30 with some of his friends for Iftaar where PDP leader, Wahid Parra was already occupying a table with some people including two Srinagar-based journalists.
"Waheed Parra, whom we call an asset of Indian establishment, on seeing me tried to greet me as courtesy, but even though I felt bad about not returning his greetings, I chose not to answer.
"This issue was twisted first through a blog. During the last two days, first a news wire called 'The Print' and later a local TV news channel started running this fake and concocted news seemingly at the behest of their masters.
"I have decided to file a defamation suit against both the News wire and the local TV news channel," Malik said.
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Curbs on movement, assembly remain in force in Kashmir after protests against Khamenei's killing
Srinagar (PTI): Normal life in Kashmir was affected for the fifth consecutive day as partial restrictions on movement of people remained in force as a precautionary measure.
The restrictions were imposed on Monday after spontaneous protests broke out across Kashmir a day earlier against the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israel joint strikes.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday held a meeting with civil society representatives and religious leaders as part of efforts to bring the situation back to normalcy.
ALSO READ: Protests against Khamenei's killing: Curbs remain in force in Kashmir
After the meeting, Abdullah appealed to people to maintain peace while expressing grief and anger in "mosques, shrines and Imambaras".
The government has shut educational institutions till Saturday, and reduced mobile internet speeds.
"Restrictions on the movement and assembly of the people continued in many parts of Kashmir on Thursday," the officials said.
A large number of police and paramilitary CRPF personnel were deployed across the city to prevent gatherings of protestors, the officials said.
They added that concertina wires and barricades were placed at important intersections leading into the city, while asserting that these were precautionary measures imposed to maintain law and order.
The iconic Ghanta Ghar in the city centre of Lal Chowk here continued to remain a no-go zone after the authorities sealed area with barricades erected all around it on late Sunday night.
The move to seal the Ghanta Ghar came after it witnessed massive protests on Sunday after Khamenei's assassination in the joint air strikes by the US and Israel.
This is the first time since August 2019 -- when Article 370 was revoked -- that protests on such a large scale have taken place in Kashmir.
