Separatist shutdown hits life

Life across Srinagar was affected on Friday by a separatist shutdown called against alleged human rights violations and the detention of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani.

Markets, educational institutions, banks and businesses were closed, public transport went off the roads, and attendance in government offices was thin.

Roads were deserted though a few autorickshaws and private vehicles plied in the uptown areas.

Geelani, who favours Jammu and Kashmir's merger with Pakistan, has been detained under the tough Public Safety Act and lodged in a tourist hut in the high-security Cheshmashahi area.

Over 40 activists of Geelani's group have been arrested in the last three days here.