JKLF shutdown hits life in Kashmir
By IANSTuesday, February 10, 2009
SRINAGAR - Normal life in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar was badly hit Wednesday by the general shutdown called by the separatist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to commemorate the death anniversary of its founder Muhammad Maqbool Bhat.
Markets remained closed and public transport was off the roads although a few private vehicles could be seen.
Attendance in government offices was also thin because of the non-availability of public transport.
Reports from other district headquarters of the valley indicated that the shutdown had affected life there as well.
Bhat was hanged this day in 1984 in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail. Since then, the JKLF has been calling for a protest shutdown on Feb 11 each year.
The group has also been demanding that the remains of its founder, who was buried inside Tihar Jail after his execution, be handed over to his relatives for burial.
