By IANS
Srinagar : The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) sponsored strike to remember its dead leader Maqbool Bhat hit routine life in the Kashmir valley Monday, even as security forces killed two militants.
Shops in the state’s summer capital were shut and there was little traffic on the roads. Authorities had made tight security arrangements as the JKLF activists marched through the city.
The activists took out a procession from their Maisuma headquarters here and tried to march to the UN office in Srinagar.
They were shouting pro-independence slogans and were demanding the return of the mortal remains of Bhat, the slain JKLF founder, who was hanged this day in 1984 in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. Bhat lies buried inside the jail premises.
Police however stopped the procession and detained several activists.
Reports from other towns of the valley said the strike call evoked partial to complete response.
Meanwhile, two terrorists of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit were gunned down by troopers of 29 Rashtriya Rifles and special operations group (SOG) of the police at Palhallan Pattan in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Security forces had surrounded a house in the village late Sunday and engaged the hiding guerrillas in a fierce encounter that ended early Monday.
A defence spokesman here said two AK-47 rifles, three under-barrel grenade launchers and four hand grenades were recovered from the shootout site.