A Kashmiri woman and her son carry lunch for their relatives in hospital during curfew in Srinagar. (AP)

Srinagar, Aug. 24: The Jammu and Kashmir government has had enough of the freedom fervour gripping the Valley, its frustration mirrored in a crackdown on protesters in Srinagar today.

The CRPF opened fire on a group that had assembled at Dalgate defying a curfew clamped by the government, killing 62-year-old Ghulam Qadir, who wasn’t part of the protests.

Qadir faced the bullets because he intervened when some CRPF men began beating up his son Mohammed Yakub, 35, who was on his way to buy milk. Yakub is in hospital along with dozens injured in the firing.

The shutdown of 10 districts since this morning is seen as an attempt to thwart a proposed march to Lal Chowk, in the heart of Srinagar, by separatist leaders tomorrow.

The government, however, cited intelligence inputs about assassination attempts on the separatists for the move.

Hundreds today defied the curfew at various places across Kashmir, leading to clashes with security forces.

The forces also beat up around 15 journalists and denied them free movement although they had curfew passes.

The army has been put on standby in nine districts to help the administration maintain calm.

The government followed up the curfew call with the arrest of several Hurriyat leaders, including Ayaz Akbar, Saleem Geelani and Hakim Rasheed. Senior leaders like Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq have been put under house arrest, while the homes of Shabir Shah, Bashir Bhat and Nayeem Khan were raided and allegedly ransacked.

The crackdown is a diversion from the government’s “soft policy” adopted earlier this month after around two dozen protesters were killed and hundreds injured in police action against a fruit growers’ march to Muzaffarabad.

Kashmir had turned into a virtual “liberated zone” since then with lakhs taking out pro-freedom rallies and the security forces reduced to mere spectators.

The Lal Chowk rally slated for tomorrow was expected to be attended by more than five lakh people. But the curfew has put a cloud on that plan.

“We have to take these measures to restore peace. They are taking out protests at will and it appears there is no government here,” a senior police officer said, adding that the earlier approach had affected the “morale” of many policemen.

The police are expecting a major flare-up tomorrow as many people might defy the curfew and march to Lal Chowk, the officer said.

The administration also cracked its whip on some local cable channels that were beaming “inflammatory” news.

A police spokesperson said curfew had been clamped as a precautionary measure following “credible inputs that (separatist) leaders will be targeted” during tomorrow’s rally. “Some of the leaders face threats from vested interests,” he said.

The Mirwaiz, however, scoffed at the claim, saying the government had “cooked up” the story. “We have no such threat. The huge response to our calls has unnerved the government,” he said.

The Hurriyat leader stressed that the rally would take place. “There is no justification in imposing curfew when all previous processions have been peaceful. The march will take place despite the curfew,” he said.