Srinagar : After two days of normalcy, life was again affected in Kashmir Valley on Friday due to a strike called by separatists as part of their agitation programme to protest the killing of civilians during the unrest and in support of their other demands.
Most of the shops, fuel stations and other business establishments in Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, were shut, while public transport was minimal, officials said. The effect of the strike was accentuated by a public holiday in Kashmir on Friday, they said.
Reports of shutdown were also received from most of the other district headquarters of the Valley, the officials said.
On Wednesday, the separatist groups – both factions of Hurriyat Conference and JKLF – had scaled down their strike call from five days a week to two days.
They have extended the protest programme till the end of this month and have asked people to observe shutdown on Fridays and Saturdays. The separatists have been spearheading the agitation since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir on July 8. The more than five-month unrest in the Valley has left 86 people dead and thousands others, including 5,000 security personnel, injured.
Meanwhile, clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in several parts of the Valley including Nowhatta after Friday prayers, police said.
As soon as Friday congregational prayers ended, people took out a protest march from Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area of the city, a police official said. He said the security forces, posted on duty to maintain law and order, fired tear smoke shells to disperse the protesters.
The protesters resorted to stone-pelting at the security forces, the official said. Reports of similar clashes were received from Sopore in north Kashmir and Newa in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, he said. There were no reports of any casualty in the clashes, he said. —PTI
