23rd August, 2008 - Kashmir continues to burn

Bandh calls are given in Jammu & Kashmir the way pegs are ordered in a bar. Every day one group or the other is giving a bandh call and the situation has reached to such a boiling point that it has divided the state in religious lines. Now The Hurriyat Conference-led Coordination Committee called for a three-day general strike beginning today. The transport services, though, has been exempted from the bandh call. Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq reiterated the demands, including right of self-determination. He also demanded the withdrawal of troops and revocation of all the laws granting special powers to the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.