Traders defy Geelani's Sunday strike call

Hundreds of roadside vendors on Sunday defied hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's announcement to observe a 'civil curfew' as they displayed their merchandise in the popular flea market in the city.

Geelani had announced a three-day 'civil curfew' to be observed, beginning with the arrival of United States President Barack Obama to India on Saturday, but the roadside vendors decided to defy the diktat.

"We have seen enough of strikes and curfews for the past four months and now we want to feed our families. We cannot go on forever like this," a vendor, who identified himself only as Khalid, told PTI.

Khalid said he also wanted a resolution of the Kashmir issue but not by forcing his family to starvation. "There has to be a strategy... any movement that forces the poor into further poverty cannot sustain for too long," the graduate from SP College said.

The sentiments were echoed by many of Khalid's fellow traders at the Sunday market, but they would not speak on record for the fear of reprisal from separatist elements.

"We do not want to indulge into politics. We are trying to fulfill our basic needs... the separatist have not cared and the government at best has been absent," Nazir Ahmad (not his real name) said.

Asked about the impact of breaking the strike when Obama was in India, both Khalid and Nazir were of the opinion that they should stop looking at foreign powers for resolution of the issue.

"The US, China, the United Kingdom and the United Nations have been there for so many decades but what have they done so far?" they asked.

The defiance by vendors comes a week after an unknown group, Jammu and Kashmir Ittehadi Islami, circulated posters in the city asking the Hurriyat Conference to review its strike calendar as it was only harming the valley's economy.

Although an estimated 5000 roadside vendors set up their shop from TRC Crossing to Batamaloo every Sunday to earn a livelihood, only 20 per cent of them have decided to defy the separatist diktat.

Meanwhile, normal life remained disrupted in the Valley as most of the shops, private offices and commercial establishments remained closed on account of the strike.

A police spokesman said the situation across the Valley so far was peaceful. "There is no curfew or restrictions in place anywhere in the Kashmir Valley," he said.

The Kashmir Valley has been in the grip of protests, strikes and curfew since June when a 17-year-old boy was killed by a teargas shell allegedly fired by the police in the city's Rajouri Kadal area.