By IANS
Srinagar : Normal life was disrupted in Srinagar and other major towns of the valley Friday due to a shutdown called by hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani to protest the molestation attempt of a young girl by two soldiers last month.
Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in Srinagar though private transport and auto rickshaws were plying.
Attendance in government offices and banks was affected by the strike due to the non-availability of public transport. Towns like Baramulla, Sopore, Anantnag, Pulwama and Kupwara were also hit by the shutdown.
Two Rashtriya Rifles soldiers Kulwant Singh and Gadminder Singh entered a house in Kunan village in Bandipora June 27 and allegedly attempted to rape a 17-year-old girl. The incident had sparked widespread protests in the area the next day and the police had to intervene to take the soldiers into custody from an irate mob.
A court in Bandipora later sent them in police remand for two days.
Meanwhile, protests continued for the second consecutive day in the north Kashmir town of Kangan where an irate trooper killed a civilian and wounded another before shooting himself with his service rifle Thursday.
The town, 35 km from here, is situated on the Srinagar-Baltal route leading to the Amarnath cave shrine.
"Protesters forced the closure of markets and blocked the passage of pilgrims towards the Baltal base camp. We are trying to get the traffic on the highway cleared," a police official told IANS.
Residents of Kangan had Thursday caught Ranjit Singh, a trooper of 24 Rashtriya Rifles, and a local girl in a private building close to the Rashtriya Rifles camp.
As the mob dragged the two out of the building, the trooper fired upon them, killing a labourer Abdul Rehman Magray and critically wounding another before shooting himself. Singh later succumbed to his injuries.