October 12, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 12, 1429

SRINAGAR, Oct 11: Shops, businesses and schools were shut in occupied Kashmir on Saturday to protest a visit by the Indian prime minister to the disputed Himalayan region.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the region to inaugurate its first train line and meet pro-Indian political parties.

His visit comes amid a wave of unrest that included some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades.

The Jammu-Kashmir Coordination Committee, a coalition of Muslim separatists and local business leaders, called for a strike on Saturday in Srinagar to protest Singh’s visit.

The city’s streets were deserted and government forces erected steel barricades and laid razor wire on the streets in anticipation of protests. Thousands of additional soldiers in riot gear patrolled the city.

“We’re taking no chance and are strictly enforcing restrictions to maintain law and order,” senior police official B. Srinivas said.

On Saturday, Singh inaugurated Kashmir’s first train line, meant to forge stronger ties between the region and the rest of India.

Meanwhile, All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that economic packages and development projects would fail to pacify and distract the Kashmiris from their ‘innate right’ of self-determination.

“We are not against Dr Manmohan Singh’s arrival in Srinagar in his individual capacity, but oppose his tour as prime minister because he has sidelined the Kashmir issue and consigned it to the cold storage,” he said.—Agencies