Kashmir up in arms against beef judgment

With separatists planning turbulence during shutdown, Srinagar put under undeclared curfew

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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SRINAGAR, Sep 11: Even as the principal mainstream parties PDP, National Conference and Congress remained tightlipped, all the separatist organisations including some mainstream politicians in Kashmir valley have rejected the Jammu and Kashmir High Court's order asking Director General of Police to strictly enforce the year 1862 law that bans cow slaughter across the State.

In a PIL filed by advocate Parimoksh Seth last year, a Division Bench comprising Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Janak Rak Kotwal had on September 8th directed DGP to ensure strict enforcement of Section 298 of Ranbir Penal Code that makes cow-slaugh liable to 10 years of imprisonment and fine upto five times the cost of the slaughtered animal. Even the consumer under this law has to undergo imprisonment for one year.

Around 500 beef shops are believed to be illegally operating in the Valley as Police and other law enforcement agencies have rarely booked a defaulter.

Dismissing the court order, as also the 1862 law of Maharaja's government, as "not acceptable" and "an intervention into the religious matters of the Muslims", Valley’s political and religious leadership made it unambiguously clear that cow-slaughter and the beef consumption would continue in violation of any law or court order. Separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani has already called for a total shutdown in Kashmir on Saturday to register a strong protest against the High Court order.

Authoritative sources told STATE TIMES that the authorities have decided to enforce "restrictions"----euphemism for undeclared curfew----in half of the summer capital on Saturday. Densely populated Srinagar downtown areas, falling under the jurisdiction of seven Police Stations would remain closed for usual traffic and pedestrian movement.

With the tension mounting, University of Kashmir authorities suspended all the examinations scheduled for Saturday.

Head of a faction of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Dukhtaraan-e-Millat Chairperson Asiya Andrabi stole the limelight with their hard-hitting statements against the interim order passed by the court. They invariably maintained that cow-slaugh and beef consumption were 'Halal' (permitted) in Islam and no government could ban it, particularly so in a Muslim-dominated State.

Even the mainstream parties run by the prominent Communist leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami and Hakeem Mohammad Yasin (both sitting MLAs) opposed the High Court order and called for immediate revocation of the beef law.

Official sources said that at several places in Srinagar and other district headquarters, thin groups of demonstrators staged protest. Cows were publicly slaughtered at eight different spots in the Valley "as a mark of protest". Even in a marketplace beside Iqbal Park, all the six beef selling shops were open in Srinagar. Reports said that Police remained a mute spectator and did not take action against a single defaulter anywhere in Kashmir valley.

Authorities here fear a fresh turbulence, including communal and regional polarisation in the State as the conflict is resting on bovine. While the Muslims in Kashmir contend that beef is very much "Halal" and permitted by Islam, some of the Hindu groups have been crusading for blanket ban on cow slaughter and consumption of beef.

After the Friday congregational prayers, groups of people shouted slogans and engaged police in ding-dong clashes. Police and CRPF used tearsmoke and baton charge to disperse the thin unruly crowds. Officials said that none of the separatists was either detained or put under house arrest. However civilian sources maintained that at least five separatist leaders were under "house arrest".

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