The government of Jammu and Kashmir ahead of August 15 Independence Day is focussing on Lal Chowk area of Srinagar.
The mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation tweeted on Friday night, “We have illuminated the Clock Tower (‘Ghanta Ghar’) at Lal Chowk in colors of the Tricolour ahead of Independence Day. New clocks fitted.”
On Saturday morning Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha flagged off the anti Polythene marathon from Lal Chowk. Sinha said that the young generation has a huge responsibility to ensure peace, prosperity and unity of the nation. “A large number of youth participating in the events commemorating the historical occasion of the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence will send a message across the world that J&K has ushered into the era of sustained peace and progress.
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On the second anniversary of abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, the police was accused of breaking open locks and forcibly opening shuttered shops in the Lal Chowk area. The police had earlier summoned traders and shopkeepers from several parts of Srinagar including Lal Chowk and directed them to keep their business establishments open and not observe a shutdown on 5 August. The breaking open of locks of shops has been widely reported but the police didn’t issue any denial so far.
PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Saturday alleged that the government is threatening shopkeepers with FIRs for shutting shops on August 5.
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“GOI threatening shopkeepers with FIRs for shutting their shops on 5th Aug as a mark of protest is the latest addition to the growing number of CBMs for Kashmiris since all party meeting,” Mufti tweeted. “First CBM – firing govt employees on trivial grounds followed by denying jobs & passports,” she said.
Lal Chowk has historical and political significance in Kashmir. Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru gave many significant speeches at the Lal Chowk. During the unrest of 2008 and 2010 thousands of people assembled near the clock tower to register their protests and hoisted green flags on the clock tower.
Lal Chowk, a business hub in Kashmir’s summer capital is named after the central marketplace in Moscow — Red Square. Local historians say it was a group of enthusiastic Communists in Srinagar who thought of naming Lal Chowk after Lenin seized power in Moscow in 1917. They say, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, who was attracted to Socialism, gave the square the name of Lal Chowk. On June 27, 2008, when massive protests erupted, thousands of people amidst pro-freedom slogans hoisted scores of green flags on the Tower.
The tower first attained political significance when in 1992 the then BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi announced to hoist the tricolor on the Tower on Republic Day that year. Joshi hoisted the flag amid tight security cover.
