Srinagar: The clock tower at Lal Chowk in the summer capital remains in news very often-not for the wrong time it shows but for political reasons.
The separatists are desperate to reach the tower during agitations and the authorities ensure to keep them away from the tower.
Pertinent to mention, the clock tower has no historical importance. It came up in early 80s and became politically important in 1992 when the
then BJP president, Murli Manohar Joshi wanted to hoist the tricolor on the tower. He started his yatra from a distant state in India and ended it at Lal Chowk.
Joshi had to hoist the Tricolor in haste as a rocket fired by militants barely missed the tower.
Since 2008, the separatists tried several times to `conquer’ the tower. Every time the authorities clamped curfew to foil their move.
The authorities even used barbed wire to keep the agitated youth away from the tower.
Immediately after Mirwaiz Umer Farooq’s march to Lal Chowk in 2010, the authorities used tons of steel to make the tower durable.
However, the authorities forgot to give the tower a proper clock thus reducing it to a useless structure in the middle of a busy city centre.
The tower is floodlit and on August 15 and January 26, the officials decorate it with buntings but its four watches never show the exact time.
According to a New Delhi based human rights activist, the four clocks of the tower reflect how the officials value time in Kashmir.
He also expressed surprise over the desperation of the resistance leadership to reach the tower whenever Kashmir gets `hot’.
According to him, the place in front of the erstwhile cinema is historically important. “The podium from where Jawahar Lal Nehru promised self determination to Kashmiris was erected there,” he said.