The Valley witnessed intense protests on Friday over the killing of a top Iranian commander in a US airstrike, with police allowing an agitation over an incident that happened thousands of kilometres away although they had fiercely resisted even the stirrings of an uprising against the cancellation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
The government’s iron-fist policy had ensured there were only a few major protests, in areas like Srinagar’s Anchar, against the cancellation of the special status.
No major protests have taken place since August and September, but hundreds took to the streets in several areas, including Badgam and Magam in Budgam district and the Hassanabad locality of Srinagar, against the killing of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the top commander of the elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards.
Protesters, mostly Shias, chanted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans and swarmed Budgam town to participate in a procession.
Abid Hussain Bhat, the general secretary of Al Mehdi foundation that organised the protest, said there was no violence.
“The protest was peaceful and around 3,000 people marched from the old bus stand to the new one, walking around 1km on the main road,” Hussain said.
He said the police did not object. Businesses in the area remained shut.
Hundreds more took to the streets in Magam and Hassanabad.
The protesters questioned how the US could violate international laws to carry out attacks in sovereign countries.
The protesters carried placards that read “Down with Israel” and “Down with the US”, along with the pictures of General Soleimani and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A protester said the attack had triggered the possibility of a global confrontation, threatening world peace. “No place is safe and the global community has to act,” said Aamir Ali, the protester.
Protests also took place in Kargil, where too there was no violence.
Kargil chief executive officer Feroz Khan said the protests were held in the town after Friday prayers. Kargil has a Shia majority.