SRINAGAR: Police on Sunday swooped on a group of candlelight protesters who were demanding that the body of Afzal Guru, who was hanged and buried at Delhi’s Tihar jail on Feb 9, be returned for burial in Kashmir.
One youth has been arrested, witnesses say.
Life in the valley has come to a standstill after Guru’s execution on Saturday last as the authorities imposed a curfew which was continued until Friday evening.
However, normalcy is yet to return as senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani asked people to observe a shutdown till Sunday to protest against the execution and also to demand Guru’s body.
This evening, a few youth lit candles and sat on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar while holding placards which read “Return Guru’s Body”.
Police caught hold of one among them while the others managed to give it a slip.
In the past ten days, police have arrested 53 youth who, they believe, were trouble mongers, miscreants or threw rocks at the police during protests.
Afzal Guru is buried at the Tihar jail in Delhi beside the grave of Maqbool Bhat, a tall separatist leader who was hanged there 29 years ago.
His family have written to the union Home Ministry demanding that his mortal remains be returned for burial in his homeland.
Separatists have reserved an empty grave for Guru at the “Martyr’s Graveyard” in Srinagar.
“We are waiting for his body which remains with the government of India as a trust,” reads its epitaph.
