Separatists hint at calling off six-month long shutdown

Amid unease and fatigue displayed increasingly by people over shutdown, Kashmiri separatists today hinted at calling off the six-month long strike call from the beginning of next year, saying they would instead focus on long-term plan of programmes and initiatives.
In a joint statement, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, chief of moderate faction of Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLJ chief Mohammad Yasin Malik said they are working on a plan for transition from weekly protest calendars to a long term-plan of programmes and initiatives.
They said the announcement of the "transition plan" may take some more time as "most of the leadership has been caged and all kinds of hurdles put in place to thwart and sabotage our every move by force".

They stated this while issuing a fresh protest calendar for the next two weeks, during which the number of strike days has been scaled down.
While people have been asked to observe complete shutdown on Fridays and Saturdays, there will be no strike on rest of the five days of the week till December 31, as per their call.
The change of strategy comes amid unease and fatigue displayed over the prolonged shutdown by the people who are increasingly defying the call and going about their work for livelihood and other aspects of normal life.