SRINAGAR: A two-day strike called by Kashmiri leaders to shore up their boycott of Indian elections shut down parts of occupied Kashmir on the eve of Thursday’s vote in the volatile valley.

Kashmiri groups argue that the polls legitimise Indian rule of the disputed territory.

‘This is the only way to lodge our peaceful protest against the holding of elections in Kashmir,’ senior leader Syed Ali Geelani said by phone.

The strike, which closed shops, schools and offices in occupied Srinagar, began on Tuesday evening and will last until polling stations close late on Thursday afternoon.

It also crippled life in other towns in the valley, police said.

Geelani and other prominent leaders have been placed under house arrest to prevent any attempt to incite anti-election violence, police claim. Srinagar and the valley are the cradle of the anti-India movement that has dominated life in occupied Kashmir for the past two decades.

Residents in downtown Srinagar said police and paramilitary forces had imposed ‘strict restrictions’ on their movement. ‘It is a curfew-like situation. We are not being allowed to move out of our homes,’ said Altaf Ahmed, 24.—AFP