(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Authorities imposed curfew in the areas falling under five police stations of the Srinagar city.
According to the district magistrate Srinagar, Me’raj Kakroo areas falling under Maisuma, Kralkhud, Kothibagh, Shaheed Gunj and Ram Munshi Bagh police stations have been placed under curfew as a preventive measure.
Authorities fear that mourning processions, taken out annually to commemorate the sacrifices of Imam Hussain (AS) and his band of followers in the battle field of Karbala some 1500 years back, may turn into pro-freedom rallies.
Main Muharram processions have been banned in Srinagar since 1989 when a pro-independence uprising erupted in Kashmir.
Only small mourning rallies and processions are allowed in select areas with sizeable Shia Muslim populations, leading to annual friction between police and devotees.
The massive procession on the 8th Muharram was earlier taken out from city's Guro Bazar area which after passing through main thoroughfares of the capital city would culminate at Dalgate in the uptown Srinagar.
The ban on the mid-city processions of the 8th and Ashura was even challenged in the High Court by the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen led by prominent Shia cleric and Hurriyat Conference leader Maulana Abbas Ansari.
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