General strike protesting Bhutto's killing affects life

Srinagar, Dec 28: Life was today paralysed in the Kashmir valley due to a general strike called by breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC) protesting the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a suicide attack at Rawalpindi yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir university has postponed all under graduate and post graduate examinations scheduled for today as a result of the strike.

Shops and business establishments in the civil lines, including historic Budshah Chowk and Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, remained closed.

Work in government, semi-government organisations and banks was also affected due to the protest, called by HC Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

However, traffic on some city and district routes was plying normally.

At Maisuma, the headquarters of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and downtown, people blocked traffic and torched wood and old rubber tyres. A report from Anantnag said a complete shut down was observed there with all shops and business establishment remaining close and traffic being off the roads.

A number of government offices and commercial establishments also remained shut. A near-normal strike was observed at Baramulla and other northern areas of the valley. Shops remained closed in the town, a report said, adding that vehicular traffic was plying normally.

Authorities have made adequate security arrangements throughout the valley to foil any attempt by miscreants to indulge in violence.

Property worth billions of rupees, particularly belonging to Jamat-e-Islami workers and leaders, was destroyed when Benazir's father, then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was sacked by General Zia-ul-Haq and later executed in April 1979.

UNI