Amid a complete shutdown in Valley, authorities on Saturday foiled a march to Lal Chowk called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) against the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to State.The summer capital Srinagar particularly the areas around SKICC, the venue for the PM’s function, was placed under thick security cover. The civilian traffic movement was halted through the roads leading to the venue.Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was taken into preventive detention as soon as he along with his aides and activists tried to take out a protest rally from his Nigeen residence towards city centre Lal Chowk. He was taken to Nigeen police station.Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Geelani continued to remain under house arrest while JKLF chief Yasin Malik was arrested by police on Thursday. He is lodged at Srinagar's central jail.All the shops and business establishments remained closed in the region while public transport was also off the roads. The curfew-like restrictions were imposed in areas falling under police station areas of City including in Khanyar, Maisuma, Kralhud, Nowhatta, Rainawari, Nishat, Khralgud, Maisuma and Safakadal.
All the roads in restriction-bound areas were sealed off since morning by hundreds of police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed in strength.A police officer told GNS that the decision was taken to maintain law and order.Meanwhile, sitting MLA from Langate in north Kashmir's Kupwara district, Er Rasheed was detained by police in Srinagar while he was leading a protest rally against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the region.Reports said Rasheed along with his supporters tried to take a protest rally from his Jawahar Nagar residence, but policemen deployed in strength took him into custody.Later, Rasheed was lodged at Rajbagh police station.Kashmir University had already postponed all the exams scheduled for Saturday while educational institutions in most parts of the Valley remained closed either by orders of government or due to strike.Railway authorities also closed train services in the Valley in wake of the apprehensions of law and order situation.Authorities also snapped all types of mobile internet services across Valley on midnight Friday. The internet services including 2G/3G/4G were snapped at midnight, affecting thousands of people in Kashmir. It was restored following public anger.A senior government official told GNS that internet was snapped only as a precautionary measure in wake of PM's visit. He said that there were security concerns which prompted the government to snap the internet. (GNS)