SRINAGAR: Businesses and shops remained closed in many parts of India-occupied Kashmir on Tuesday to mark the eighth anniversary of the secret execution of a Kashmiri activist in New Delhi.

Unlike in the past, no anti-India groups, which have long demanded the disputed region’s independence or its merger with Pakistan, called for Tuesday’s strike.

Hundreds of armed police and paramilitary personnel in riot gear patrolled the streets as most residents stayed indoors in Srinagar. Gover­nment forces at some checkpoints frisked pedestrians and searched private cars, while public transport was largely off the roads.

Many Kashmiris were incensed when Mohammed Afzal Guru was secretly hanged on Feb 9, 2013 in a New Delhi jail on charges of involvement in a 2001 parliament attack that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.

Guru is widely believed to have not received a fair trial, and his execution led to days of deadly anti-India protests in the Muslim-majority region, where anti-India sentiment runs deep.

Many people in the Kashmir Valley demand that Guru’s remains, currently buried within the jail compound, be returned to the region for burial.

An armed uprising since 1989 against Indian control and subsequent crackdown have killed tens of thousands of civilians, militants and government forces.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2021