Independence Day celebrations passed off smoothly in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday amid tight security even as separatist calls for a general strike paralyzed life in the Valley.
State Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad took salute at an impressive parade in Srinagar in the Bakshi stadium, which had been barricaded to thwart militant's attempts to disrupt the main function.
Azad chose the historic occasion of the Independence Day to re-invite leaders of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference for a dialogue to sort out the problem. "Issues can only be settled through dialogue and not through violence," Azad told the gathering in the stadium and asked the militants to lay down their arms to pave way for peaceful solution.
He said the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road would be used for trade soon.
Apparently responding to recent outcry against human rights violations, the chief minister said that nobody had a license to kill innocents. "All such complaints have been investigated and guilty acted against," he said.
A thick security blanket was thrown around capital Srinagar where hundreds of army, paramilitary and police troops were deployed for security. The authorities resorted to jamming of mobile networks in the valley hours before the function.
The Bakshi stadium area wore a look of a fortress as troops had taken up vantage positions around the stadium. Roads leading to the venue had been blocked by parking police trucks and barricades had been erected at the intersections. The official functions also passed off peacefully in other valley towns.