Shutdown in valley against anti-encroachment drive by authorities

Business establishments in several parts of the Kashmir Valley observed a spontaneous shutdown on Wednesday in protest against the administration’s anti-encroachment and demolition drive across J&K. Businesses and shops in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and other areas remained closed. However, police officials called shopkeepers on phone numbers available on signboards and ordered them to open shops immediately. Some shopkeepers complied by noon.

“I was warned that if I don’t open the shop today, they won’t allow me to open it on Thursday either,” said a shopkeeper in Srinagar, requesting anonymity. The strike call was announced through a poster circulated on social media on Tuesday.

The J&K administration has been carrying out demolition of structures for retrieval of land, as part of an anti-encroachment drive across the Union Territory for the past few weeks. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has said that poor peoples’ homes and shops won’t be demolished. However, officials in charge of the drive have not made such distinction based on perceived social and economic status, as per ground reports.

Former CM Mehbooba Mufti, meanwhile, urged people to not cede control of state land or any other land under any circumstance. “They are enforcing everything in J&K through the barrel of a gun… Land in J&K belongs to the people. I urge people of J&K to take control of their lands.”

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