Lal Chowk

Lal Chowk was the location where Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, unfurled the Indian national flag in 1948, shortly after the country gained independence from the British Empire. Following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, Nehru stood in Lal Chowk and promised the Kashmiri people a chance to vote in a referendum whereby they would be able to choose their political future. The city square was also the location where Sheikh Abdullah, the first elected Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, expressed his allegiance to Nehru and India in a Persian couplet, saying "Man Tu Shudam, Tu Man Shudi, Taqas Na Goyed, Man Degram Tu Degri (I became you and you became I; so none can say we are separate)".[1]

The 1993 Lal Chowk fire refers to the arson attack on the main commercial centre of downtown Srinagar that took place on 10 April 1993. The fire is alleged to have been started by a crowd incited by militants,[2] while civilians and police officials interviewed by Human Rights Watch and other international organizations alleged that the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) set fire to the locality, apparently in retaliation for the burning of an abandoned BSF building by local residents.[3] Over 125 Kashmiri civilians were killed in the incident.[4]

There is a defunct clock tower in the city square, constructed by Bajaj Electricals in 1980.[5]

The clock tower gained political significance in 1992, when the then Bharatiya Janata Party president, Murli Manohar Joshi, hoisted the Indian flag on top of the tower on Republic Day.[6][7] Joshi hoisted the flag in the company of Indian troops, and his move brought several militant groups together, uniting them with India.

Since then, the Indian Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force undertook the hoisting ceremony until 2009, when they announced that continuing the ritual was unnecessary because the tower "had no political significance". Following this, official ceremonies were held at the nearby Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar on Republic Day and Independence Day.

In 2011, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced its plan to start a march called "Ektha Yatra"[8] from Kolkata, West Bengal to Srinagar. The purpose of the march was to "unite Indians" on the Kashmir issue and challenge pro-Pakistan separatists by hoisting the flag of India atop the tower in Lal Chowk on 26 January 2011—India's Republic Day. This move was reportedly intended to serve as a response to Kashmiri insurgents, who had earlier hoisted the flag of Pakistan at the same place. The march was opposed by the Indian National Congress and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, who were fearful that it might fuel further unrest in Muslim-majority Kashmir.

Following the announcement by the BJYM, the central government took various countermeasures to stop the planned march.[9] Trains carrying BJYM members to Srinagar were stopped and sent back to their locations of departure. While the majority of BJYM members failed to reach the Kashmir Valley, top BJP leaders, namely Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, continued to lead the march until they were stopped while attempting to enter Jammu & Kashmir from Indian Punjab via a bridge crossing the Ravi River on 25 January 2011.[10] All BJP members in the rally were subsequently arrested and kept in custody in the city of Jammu until the end of formalities on Republic Day.[11]

Indian security forces were instructed to heavily cordon Lal Chowk on Republic Day. However, some BJP activists reached Srinagar and hoisted the Indian flag near the city square, although they failed to reach their intended destination on top of the clock tower.[12]

• Lal Bazar
• Hazratbal
• Rajbagh
• Jawahar Nagar Srinagar

1. S.P. College
2. Women's College
3. B.Ed. College
4. NIIT Residency