Hurriyat strike disrupts normal life in Kashmir Valley

Srinagar: Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir Valley Thursday due to a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani to protest killings in Gaza and to mourn the death of seven persons in an accident involving an army vehicle.

Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps here were closed, while government offices and banks received thin attendance, police said. They said public transport was off the roads while private cars, cabs and auto rickshaws were seen plying. Similar reports were received from all major towns across the valley, they said. School and colleges in the Valley are closed on account of summer vacations. Geelani yesterday called for the strike against Gaza killings and to mourn death of seven persons, including a pregnant woman, in a head-on collision between an army vehicle and a private cab on Srinagar-Baramulla highway in the outskirts of the city here. The collision triggered protests by the locals. Expressing grief over the loss of lives, Geelani alleged that the armed forces do not follow traffic rules and usually cause accidents.