SRINAGAR, Oct 27: Shops, businesses, schools and government offices remained closed as people across occupied Kashmir observed a general strike on Monday to mark the anniversary of the day Indian troops took control of the region in 1947.

Thousands of Indian soldiers in riot gear patrolled deserted streets of Srinagar and prohibited any gathering of more than five people, said a police officer.

The ban was aimed at blocking a plan by Kashmiri lawyers to form a human chain to protest the presence of Indian troops in the region.

“It’s an irony that even forming a human chain is a threat to the Indian state,” said All Parties Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Omer Farooq.

“This was supposed to be a symbolic protest reminding the world that India has militarily occupied this place. Oct 27 is the blackest day in the history of Kashmir,” he said.

The strike had been called by the Jammu-Kashmir Coordination Committee.—AP/Reuters