Srinagar: Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir Valley on Thursday due to a strike called by separatist groups to protest against the "proposed plans" to establish Sainik Colony, settlements for migrant Kashmiri Pandits and induction of new industrial policy in the state.
Most of the shops, business establishments and petrol pumps were shut in Srinagar, while government offices and banks witnessed thin attendance.
Public transport was also off the roads, while private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were seen plying normally. Private schools also remained closed due to the strike, the officials said.
They said reports of shutdown were received from other districts of the Valley as well.
Both the factions of Hurriyat Conference and JKLF, on Monday, had jointly called for a shutdown against the "proposed plans of creation of the separate clusters for the Pandits, establishing of Sainik colonies, induction of new anti-Kashmir industrial policy and the attempts of demographic changes in Jammu and Kashmir".
On May 23, Chairman of moderate Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF Chief Mohammad Yasin Malik called on hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at his Hyderpora residence and held a closed door meeting for about one-and-a-half hours in which they decided to call for the general strike on May 26, a statement issued by hardline Hurriyat said.
While the chairman of hardline Hurriyat Conferences Syed Ali Shah Geelani continued to be under house arrest, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq was put under house detention on Wednesday.
At present, there are about 62,000 registered Kashmiri migrant families in the country, who have moved from the Valley to Jammu, Delhi and other parts of the country after the state was rocked by militancy in 1989.
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