Srinagar, Oct 23: The historic Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, Srinagar, has been declared out of bounds for any civilian movement to foil protest march by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) against Kulgam killings on Sunday.
All roads and bylanes leading to the historic chowk have been closed with barbed wire and a large number of state police and Central Paramilitary Forces (CPF), wearing bulletproof jacket and holding automatic weapons have been deployed to foil ‘Lal Chowk Chalo’, called by the JRL.
Three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants were killed in an encounter by security forces at village Laroo in Kulgam on Sunday. However, immediately after the encounter was over, large number of people gathered there during which a blast took place leaving six persons dead and scores injured.
Police said restrictions have been imposed in some areas under police station Kothibagh, including Lal Chowk.
Meanwhile, traffic police has also issued an advisory that no traffic movement will be allowed from Regal Chowk to Amira Kadal bridge due to restrictions.
Taking to micro-blogging site twitter, traffic spokesman said,’Movement of traffic will be restricted on Tuesday on Regal Chowk-Amira Kadal Bridge Road. Commuters are requested to use the alternate routes to reach their destinations. He further tweeted that ‘Commercial vehicles travelling to #Srinagar city from #SouthKashmir and #Pantha chowk shall not be allowed via #Sonwar on Tuesday. Instead, they can navigate via #Bypass-Nowgam or #Sanatnagar road as an alternate route.’
Security forces have closed Amira Kadal bridge with barbed wire at Hari Singh High Street (HSHS) leading to Lal Chowk and people, including pedestrians, were directed to take Budshah bridge to reach their destination.
Similar restrictions have been placed at river Jhelum bund, Koker Bazar, Court road, Regal Chowk, Exchange road, Maisuma, Haji Masjid, KMDA and Abi Guzar.
The foot bridge on river Jhelum, leading to Lal Chowk, has also been closed and nobody was being allowed to cross it from Lal Mandi side.
Business and other activities remained paralysed for the second day on Tuesday in the restriction-free areas in the civil lines, including main hubs. Yesterday, life was affected due to strike called by JRL.
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