Thaindian News

Srinagar, Dec 15 (IANS) Police Tuesday used teargas and batons to disperse stone- pelting mobs in Srinagar protesting against the report of the CBI probe into the deaths of two women in Shopian. Life in the Kashmir Valley was paralysed in view of a strike called to protest the report.
The shutdown has been called by the Shopian Majlis Mushawarat against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report into the Shopian alleged rape-murder of the women in May that had triggered massive protests in the valley. The strike is being supported by both the groups of the Hurriyat Conference.

The country’s premier investigation agency submitted its 66-page report to the division bench of the state high court here Monday in which it concluded that Asiya Jan, 17, and her sister-in-law Neelofar Jan, 22, had died due to drowning in the village stream near Shopian town, 65 km from here.

The Shopian Majlis Mushawarat, a religio-political body that spearheaded the 47-day-long agitation earlier, rejected the report and called for a strike across Kashmir Tuesday.

Shops and other commercial establishments in the summer capital Srinagar and other towns remained shut and public transport was off the roads.

However, skeletal private transport was plying in the capital city where the authorities have made tight security arrangements to maintain law and order.

Reports from other towns said life was affected due to Tuesday’s strike.

The authorities placed senior leaders of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, including chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umer Farooq, Shabir Shah and Naeem Khan, under house arrest early Tuesday.

Police used tear smoke to disperse stone throwing mobs in parts of the capital city.