Kashmir shuts down to protest Quran desecration reports

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

SRINAGAR: Shops, schools and banks were shut yesterday in Indian-administered Kashmir and women activists burnt a US flag in protest at reports of desecrations of the Holy Quran at Guantanamo Bay, witnesses said.

The one-day strike in India's only Muslim-majority state was called by hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani and backed by the revolt-hit region's leading women's separatist group, Dukhtaran-e-Milat or Daughters of Faith.

The protest forced the closure of shops, schools, banks as well as most government and private offices in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

The usually busy streets of Srinagar, the urban hub of militants opposed to Indian rule in the region, were largely free of traffic.

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