New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, a day ahead of the crucial Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) meet on Kashmir. Omar will also attend the Prime Minister's Iftar dinner on Wednesday night.
The meeting will also be attended by senior Union Cabinet ministers. Omar will brief the Union Cabinet on the ongoing protests in the Valley. The Prime Minister is likely to appoint a special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir.
The CCS, which will meet on Thursday, is likely to discuss the ongoing protests, stone pelting incidents and the withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. The CCS is likely to seek the Army’s view on withdrawal of AFSPA after Chief of Staff General VK Singh returns from Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was arrested in Srinagar on Wednesday from his Hyderpora residence on the outskirts of the city as a preventive measure.
The Valley is still tense with curfew still on in Srinagar, Anantnag and Bijbehera following violent clashes between protestors and security forces. The curfew was imposed after four persons were injured when the protestors clashed with the police on Tuesday evening in Batmaloo, Karan Nagar and Chota Bazaar area of Srinagar.
The mob tried to attack and ransack the police station at Karan Nagar following which police fired several shots in the air to disperse them. This was second attack on the Karan Nagar Police Station in as many days after a mob hurled a petrol bombs at it on Monday night.
"Curfew is in force in the entire Srinagar city as there has been no improvement in the situation. Stone pelting incidents on security forces and installations continued till late last night at many places," a police official said.
Police have also imposed restrictions on the movement of people in nine districts of the Valley as a precautionary measure.
"Although no major incident took place anywhere in the Valley yesterday, curfew and restrictions have been imposed as a precautionary measure," they said.
Curfew was imposed in Srinagar on Monday in view of violent protests and stone pelting incidents in many areas after four persons were killed when security forces allegedly opened fire on a stone-pelting mob that had attacked Inspector General of Police SM Sahai's convoy in Pattan area.
The Valley was rocked by violence following the death of a teenager on June 11 after he was allegedly hit by a tear smoke shell near Rajouri Kadal area of the old city. Sixty-nine people have been killed in the ongoing unrest in the Valley.
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