It's learnt that the decision was taken at the highest level in the state because flag hoisting was seen as a ``needless provocation'' to separatist and extremist elements, who have for years been throwing stones at paramilitary forces positioned there. Signifying a shift in security strategy, it was felt by the Omar Abdullah government that there was no traction to be obtained from such symbolic gestures.

Flag hoisting at Lal Chowk began at the height of militancy in the state in 1991 when BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi took out the `Ekta Yatra' from Kanyakumari to Srinagar, ostensibly to symbolize India's assertion in an area where Pakistani flags were seen in a grim reminder of separatists' defiance. Security forces used to have their own Republic Day celebration at Lal Chowk and distribute sweets, which would be followed by the hoisting of the Tricolour on the Clock Tower at the centre of the market. The ceremony now seems to have passed into history.