Himalayan News service

Srinagar, May 21:

Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar today observed a shutdown to mark the killings of Kashmiri separatist leaders Mirwaiz Moulvi Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone. Shops, business establishments, banks and educational institutions were closed and public transport went off the roads in the city. However a few auto-rickshaws and private vehicles were seen on the roads. Attendance in government offices was thin. Gunmen shot dead Moulvi Farooq, father of the present Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, at his residence in Srinagar in 1990. Lone was shot on this day in 2002 at the Eidgah Martyrs’ graveyard when he went to offer tributes to the slain Mirwaiz.In 1993, the Awami Action Committee, founded by the late Mirwaiz, became a founder constituent of the separatist Hurriyat conference, s formed to provide a political platform to armed struggle.