A shutdown called by hardline separatist Hurriyat Conference to protest against the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to shift prison inmates from the Valley to outside jails affected normal life in Srinagar on Tuesday.
Shops and businesses were shut and public transport remained off the roads as the Valley responded to separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's call for a strike. However, private vehicles could be seen plying the roads.
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The absence of public transport left hundreds stranded and affected attendance in government and banks.
Authorities have made elaborate security arrangements in Srinagar and other towns to maintain law and order. Reports from other towns said the strike affected normal life there too.
"The shifting of the detainees is a practice in pure vengeance and done just to harass the people of Kashmir. We cannot sit silent, therefore, the strike shall be held on February 7," Geelani had said in a statement last week.
Lashing out at authorities for the move, he said shifting of the inmates to outside jails was a violation of the Supreme Court guidelines on the matter which provided for lodging them in jails in their home district.
"According to the Supreme Court ruling, the prisoners are to be kept in the jails closest to their residence so that they could meet their kin. But here the rules are violated to harass people," he said.
With inputs from PTI
