WHEN 25 envoys from Germany, France, Canada, Afghanistan, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and other countries arrived in Srinagar on February 12 for a two-day visit, there were no protests even though the Valley had observed a total shutdown the day before to commemorate the death anniversary of Maqbool Bhat, founder of the National Liberation Front (precursor to the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front). Bhat was hanged and buried in Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 11, 1984, and an empty grave awaits his remains at Srinagar’s Martyrs Graveyard. The envoys met three delegations in Srinagar’s Grand Palace hotel, which is next to the Hari Niwas Palace—now a sub-jail that lodges former CM Omar Abdullah, who along with former CM Mehbooba Mufti, have been detained under the preventive detention law, the Public Safety Act, after the end of their six-month house arrest under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
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