Separatist-sponsored strike disrupts normal life in Valley

The movement of people and transport is less compared to the other days due to apprehensions of law and order problems after Friday congregational prayers, a police official said.

He said most of the shops, fuel stations and business establishments in Srinagar - the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir - were shut due to the strike, while public transport was comparatively less.

However, few of them were open in some areas in the civil lines as well as in the outskirts of the city, the official said.

Few vendors had put up their stalls along TRC Chowk-Batamaloo axis through Lal Chowk city centre, he said.

Reports of less traffic and most of the shops being closed were received from other district headquarters of the Valley, he said.

Except for the past weekend, Kashmir has witnessed shutdown for the last 140 days.

The separatists, who are spearheading the agitation since killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8, have been issuing weekly protest programmes.

They have extended the strike till December 1, announcing two full days of relaxation on the weekend like the past week.

As many as 86 people, including two cops, have been killed and several thousand others injured in the ongoing unrest in the Valley. Around 5000 security forces personnel have also been injured in the clashes.