Srinagar: South Kashmir's Shopian town observed a total shutdown Friday in response to a call given by separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.
Shops, educational institutions and banks were closed following the shutdown call. Geelani ordered the shutdown as part of his resistance programme against the alleged delay in delivering justice to the rape and murder victims Nilofar Jan, 22, and her sister-in-law Asiya Jan, 17. Both women were found dead by the side of a local stream near the town May 30.
Geelani had told a media conference here last week that he would address people in Shopian today and would also announce the calendar for his proposed resistance programme for vacation of land occupied by security forces in the Kashmir Valley.
Authorities have made tight security arrangements in and around Shopian town to maintain law and order.
Geelani is scheduled to address the Friday prayer meeting in the town today. Authorities have detained some of the leaders of his Hurriyat group in order to thwart the hardline separatist leader's programme.
IANS
First Published: Friday, October 23, 2009, 13:35