January 27, 2003	Monday	Ziqa’ad 23,1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

SRINAGAR, Jan 26: A general strike and a huge security presence marked India’s Republic Day in occupied Kashmir on Sunday, witnesses said.

Meanwhile two freedom fighters and a Hindu civilian were killed in continuing violence.

Witnesses said the strike called by Kashmir’s main alliance and the dominant group to protest the annual event kept residents indoors in the normally bustling Srinagar.

Only security vehicles and stray dogs broke the silence of the empty streets.

There were reports of similar shutdowns in other Muslim-majority towns in the state.

Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in huge numbers to prevent feared attacks by freedom fighters during official celebrations.

Security forces are on high alert this year as Lashkar-i-Taiba threatened to launch fresh fidayeen or suicide attacks against Indian troops.

“Security forces will foil all attempts by militants to carry-out fidayeen or suicide attacks on the eve of Republic Day,” Kashmir’s director general of police Ashok Kumar Suri said on Saturday. —AFP