By IANS,
Srinagar : Life across Kashmir was crippled Friday as separatists called a shutdown to protest the rape and murder of two young women in the state’s Shopian town and the continued detention of hardline leader Syed Ali Geelani.
Schools, government offices, banks, business establishments and shops remained shut in summer capital Srinagar and other towns of Kashmir. Vehicles were also off the roads.
Chairman of the Hurriyat’s moderate faction, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq had asked people to observe Friday as “Solidarity Day” with the people of Shopian, who are on an indefinite strike demanding identification and punishment of the guilty in the rape and murders of 17-year old Asiya Jan and her 22-year old pregnant sister-in-law Neelofar Jan.
His supporters staged protests after the Friday prayers in the Jamia mosque in old city against the Shopian incident. Police used tear-gas and batons to disperse stone-throwing mobs in the Soura area, as well as the protesters, shouting pro-freedom slogans, in the Nowhatta and Gojiwara areas of the old city.
Authorities imposed security restrictions in parts of old city and uptown areas to foil the separatists’ attempts to march to Cheshmashahi, to express solidarity with Geelani, who is lodged in a house in this area after his arrest early this month.
Roads leading to Cheshmashahi were blocked by police and security forces, who also restricted movement of pedestrians and traffic in the area.