Normal life disrupted due to strike in Kashmir's Shopian

SRINAGAR: Normal life was disrupted in south Kashmir's Shopian town due to a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani on the fifth anniversary of Shopian rape and murder case.

Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps in the town, 52 kms from here, were closed while public transport was off the roads, official sources said here.

Geelani had called a shutdown in the district and appealed people to hold prayer meetings in mosques for peace to the souls of the victims - Asiya and Nelofar - whose death had sparked valley wide protests after allegations of rape and murder of the two women by security forces surfaced in 2009.

Geelani, in a statement, said the incident was a "serious attack against the collective conscience" of people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Asiya (17) and her sister-in-law Neelofar (22) were allegedly raped and killed in Shopian during the intervening night of May 29-30 in 2009.