Shutdown in J&K valley after trucker's death
Following the death of the trucker in Udhampur, Kashmiri separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Gilani have called for a shutdown in the state. Moderate separatist Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF's Yasin Malik supported this shutdown. Protests erupted in the trucker's native village of Batengo in the Anantnag district of Kashmir, disrupting traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
A trucker Zahid Rasool Bhat was injured in a petrol bomb attack in Udhampur on 10 October 2015. Bhat was admitted to Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi and had received 73% burns. Police arrested nine people for the assault, five of whom were slapped with the Public Safety Act. CM Mufti Mohammad Syed condemned the incident vociferously.
The attack on the trucker Zahid came following the shutdown in Udhampur and Reasi districts where reports had jolted the region that cows had been slaughtered which led to massive protests. The petrol bombs were hurled by right-wing activists which injured 2 truckers and another policeman. Authorities later clarified that the 3 cows found dead had "died after eating poisonous fodder" and weren't slaughtered.
Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah attacked the state and Central government, saying that "they cannot wash their hands off the issue." He said that this was an example of another 'needless' death in the name of the beef ban. He criticised the government for giving a meagre Rs.10,000 to the victim's family. He further questioned Modi as to who he would blame this time.
Zahid Rasool Bhat succumbed to his injuries and died on 18 October 2015 in Safdarjung hospital, New Delhi.
The separatist leaders such as Hurriyat leader Gilani said that the government was liable for the death of the trucker. They reckoned that they had missed "to rein in communal forces", who were inciting communal antagonism in the territory. Opposition parties National Conference, Peoples Democratic Front and Democratic Nationalist Front demanded the CM's death for failing to protect Kashmiri people from Hindutva elements.
J&K Chief Minister Syed who is the Chancellor of the Islamic University of Science and Technology ordered the suspension of the first convocation keeping in mind the death of the trucker.
