SRINAGAR, Feb 12 (1997) – The troubled Himalayan state of Kashmir ground to a halt here Thursday after separatist militants called a one-day strike in protest at a visit by India’s prime minister, witnesses said.
The summer capital of Srinagar, with a population of 800,000, was turned into a ghost town, with shops and offices closed and traffic at a minimum.
Similar stoppages were staged in other town in the state.
The action against H.D. Deve Gowda’s two-day visit, due to begin Thursday, was called by the Kashmiri Freedom Conference, an umbrella group of two dozen separatist groups.
Deve Gowda is due to inaugurate a 480-megawatt power station at Uri and address political rallies there and in Jammu.
He is also due to hold talks state chief minister Farooq Abdullah and is expected to announce an economic package for the state.
More than 17,000 people have died in Kashmir, India’s only Moslem-majority state, since 1989 when militant separatists stepped up their campaign against Indian rule.
Police Wednesay broke up street protests against the visit, Deve Gowda’s third since October.
