IANS/Srinagar
Boys play cricket during a one-day strike called by hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Srinagar yesterday
Life in Srinagar and other towns in the Kashmir Valley was hit yesterday as shops, educational institutions and business establishments shut down in response to a call by separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.
Geelani, who heads the hardline faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, called for a Kashmir-wide shutdown to remember those killed in clashes with security forces during the 2010 summer unrest.
Violent clashes between security forces and unruly mobs indulging in stone throwing, arson and plunder of public property resulted in the deaths of 210 people in 2010.
Geelani has asked the people to observe ‘martyrs’ remembrance week’ in memory of those killed.
Roads were deserted as public and private vehicles stayed away.
The Hizbul Mujahideen militant group also supported the shutdown call.
Police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in riot gear were deployed at many places in Srinagar and other towns of Kashmir.
Vehicles carrying tourists to the hill stations of Sonamarg, Gulmarg and Pahalgam, however, moved normally.
More than 500,000 tourists have visited Kashmir this year.
The annual Hindu pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath begins on June 25 and will conclude on August 2 coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival. More than 300,000 pilgrims have already registered for this year’s pilgrimage.