SRINAGAR, May 30: Shops and business remained closed and people stayed indoors in most of the Kashmir valley on Wednesday to mark the third death anniversary of two women who were allegedly raped and murdered in south Kashmir’s Shopian District in 2009, witnesses said.
They said hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel patrolled deserted streets in the valley to prevent protests on the anniversary.
Traffic was thin on roads in the city and schools across the city also remained shut and the commercial nerve centre of Lal Chowk and its adjoining markets wore a deserted look.
In 2009, Kashmir valley was rocked by massive anti-government protests and the region remained shut for days over the rape of the two women, allegedly by men in uniform.
But an inquiry by India’s premier investigation agency-Central Bureau of Investigation- later ruled out the charges and claimed that the two women had drowned. However, the family of the women, the local residents and the separatist leaders outrightly rejected the report.
Geelani called for the shutdown to protest over “the denial of justice to the victims.”
“The savages who killed the two young women may be enjoying systematic protection by the government, but they are not unknown to the people of Kashmir who will never forgive them,” he told reporters late last week.
