Srinagar: Normal life in Kashmir was affected today due to a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference to protest the state government's move to shift prison inmates from the Valley to outside jails.
Shops, banks and other business and commercial establishments remained closed due to the strike called by Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Transport services were also severely affected with public transport remaining off the roads. However, private vehicles could be seen plying the roads in the summer capital Srinagar and other parts of the Valley.
Geelani-led Hurriyat had called for the strike today against the shifting of detainees to jails outside the Valley.
"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 seven and before that thse protest shall be staged on February 3," 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 provide 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.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 07, 2012, 12:42