First major protest since 2019 erupt in Kashmir over Khamenei killing

Srinagar: Protests intensified across Kashmir on Sunday evening after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in a reported joint US-Israel strike, with Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq calling for a rare Valley-wide shutdown on Monday.

Authorities ordered the closure of educational institutions for two days as a precaution.

Officials said all schools and colleges across the Valley would remain closed on Monday and Tuesday as a precautionary measure.

The decision came as demonstrations spread from Shia-majority pockets to mixed and Sunni-dominated areas, giving Sunday’s mobilisation a broader political resonance.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at city centre Lal Chowk and in downtown Srinagar, waving black flags and carrying portraits of Khamenei. Slogans against the US and Israel were raised as marchers moved through adjoining localities.

Traffic was briefly disrupted in parts of the city and some shops downed shutters for several hours before reopening by evening.

Several Sunni leaders and politicians also joined the protests. PDP leader Waheed Para and Zuhaib Yousuf Mir were seen at Lal Chowk with demonstrators.

Protests were also reported from Budgam district and north Kashmir’s Bandipora, including Shadipora and Sumbal, where residents marched after prayers. In the Shia-majority Kargil district of Ladakh, mourners assembled in the town centre, terming the strike an attack on the Muslim world and holding prayers for the slain leader.

In a statement, Mirwaiz described the strike as a “serious escalation” and criticised what he called the lack of international accountability for Israel’s actions. Warning of destabilising consequences for the wider region, he urged people to observe a peaceful shutdown and offer special prayers.

Other religious leaders, including Agha Syed Hassan, Maulana Masroor Abbas and Agha Syed Hadi, termed the development “deeply destabilising” with “grave implications” for West Asia and beyond, while appealing for restraint.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti expressed solidarity with Iran. “My prayers are with Iran and its resilient people as they face yet another act of aggression by Israel,” she said, describing Iran as “a defining voice of the Muslim world” and asserting that “no missile or menace can extinguish its sovereignty or break its spirit.”

Police officials said security was stepped up across Srinagar, Budgam and Bandipora, with additional deployments in sensitive areas. Mobile internet services were briefly suspended in parts of the Valley during the day and later restored at 2G speed, officials said, as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of rumours.

“The situation remained under control. There were no reports of violence,” a senior officer said late Sunday evening.

For the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, such large-scale protests over an international development erupted across multiple districts of Kashmir, prompting a shutdown call, closure of educational institutions and temporary curbs on internet services — underlining both the depth of public sentiment and the administration’s concern over any potential spillover.