Separatist strike call affects life in Indian-controlled Kashmir

A shutdown call by hardline separatist alliance Friday affected normal life in Muslim majority areas of Indian controlled Kashmir including summer capital city Srinagar, officials said. The strike call was given by Hurriyat (freedom) Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani to protest the detention of minors in the region, a claim rubbished by police officials. Geelani's call came after a report by New Delhi-based human rights group -Asian Centre for Human Rights- said 51 minors are behind the bars in different jails in Muslim majority areas of Indian-controlled Kashmir. Authorities fearing clashes in the Srinagar city and other towns deployed paramilitary troopers and policemen at sensitive places to prevent clashes and protest demonstrations. Shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic on roads remained disrupted to a large extent. At some places private vehicles were seen plying. Similar reports were received from other district headquarters and townships as well. Educational institutions and private offices too remained closed. The attendance in government offices and banks remained affected in wake of the strike call. "The situation is under control. We haven't received any reports of untoward incident from anywhere," said a police official in Srinagar. The Deputy Inspector General of Police in Srinagar, Abdul Ghani Mir told media majority of the detainees were involved in unlawful activities and have been released on bail except for few cases involving murder. "Out of 51 cases only 38 were from Kashmir valley and no minor from Kashmir is detained in any jail," said Mir. "Majority of the arrestees were involved in crimes including theft, eve teasing, violation of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, murder, kidnapping, rape and other crimes." Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir arrested hundreds of youth including separatists following last year's massive protests in a bid to stop protests demonstrations. According to officials most of the arrested were released. Muslim majority areas of the region witnessed massive protest demonstrations and strikes for months together in the summers of 2010.