By IANS
Srinagar : A strike was observed in Kashmir Friday to protest the assassination of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Shops and businesses were shut in summer capital Srinagar, where the authorities reinforced security and sounded an alert immediately after Bhutto’s killing in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi Thursday.
Chairman of the hardline faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called the shutdown.
Almost all the mainstream and separatist groups in Kashmir have condemned the killing of Bhutto.
Police used batons to disperse stone throwing youths who took to streets in Nowhatta area close to Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar.
“We have further beefed up security in the area after the stone pelting incident this morning,” a police officer told IANS. The authorities feared more trouble after the Friday prayers in the afternoon.
Mobs shouted pro-Bhutto slogans in the Shia majority Zadibal locality of Srinagar, where tyres were burnt to obstruct traffic movement. Angry youth also stoned passing vehicles in the locality.
Reports from other towns in Kashmir valley – of Budgam, Pulwama, Pampore, Sopore and Kulgam – said the strike call evoked a partial response.