Srinagar, Feb 11: Life was crippled today due to a day-long general strike called by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) on the 20th death anniversary of its founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat. Shops and business establishments in some other towns of the Kashmir valley remained closed and traffic was off the roads. Work in government offices was also affected due to the strike. The strike was so far peaceful and there was no report of any major untoward incident, police said. On this day in 1984, Maqbool Bhat, the founder of the JKLF, was hanged in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

The JKLF are demanding that the body of Bhat, buried within the jail premises, be handed over to them for burial in Kashmir.

Yesterday JKLF chariman Mohammad Yaseen Malik, his deputy Javed Ahmad Mir besides all members of the executive committee sat on a day-long hunger strike to protest the alleged increase in the human rights violations in the Kashmir.

Bureau Report