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Strike brings India's Kashmir to halt on UN day

Shops, businesses and schools closed in Kashmir's main city on Friday after a strike by separatists to press for the implementation of a U. N. resolution requesting a referendum over the disputed Himalayan region.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 12:56 October 24, 2008
  • Gulf News

Srinagar: Shops, businesses and schools closed in Kashmir's main city on Friday after a strike by separatists to press for the implementation of a U. N. resolution requesting a referendum over the disputed Himalayan region.

The strike coincided with United Nations Day on Friday.

The United Nations adopted a resolution in 1948 calling for a referendum for Kashmir to determine whether the area should be part of India and Pakistan.

"I appeal to people to observe a complete strike on United Nations day to press for implementation of UN resolutions over Kashmir," hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, said in a statement.

The past two months have witnessed some of the biggest anti-India protests in Kashmir since a separatist revolt against New Delhi's rule broke out nearly twenty years ago.

The strike also closed banks and most of the government offices in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, where roads were deserted except for security patrols.

Life in Srinagar, a city of 1.1 million people, is frequently disrupted by strikes and protests over separatist causes.

"We will never bow to the suppression and occupation of Indian rule, and I think today we should protest and remind the United Nations of its promise," said Abdul Hamid, a shopkeeper in Srinagar.

Violence involving Indian troops and separatist guerrillas has declined significantly since India and Pakistan, which both claim the region, began a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

Three militants were killed in separate gun battles with soldiers in the past 24 hours, police said.

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