SRINAGAR, Dec 19: A strike called on Thursday to protest the sentencing to death of three Kashmiris by a court in New Delhi sparked street demonstrations and crippled life in occupied Kashmir, but passed off peacefully.

The three were sentenced to death by a special court in New Delhi on Wednesday after it found them guilty of helping five militants prepare for a December 13 attack on India’s parliament. A woman found guilty of not disclosing information to police was sentenced to five years in jail.

The attack left nine people dead before security forces gunned down the five assailants.

Thursday’s strike was called by the Kashmir Bar Association, representing lawyers in the Kashmir Valley, and leading women’s separatist group Dukhtaran-i-Milat.

It was supported by other separatist and human rights groups.

Srinagar’s commercial areas, including the main Lal Chowk hub, were closed while some other parts of the city were also brought to a halt.

However, traffic plied the rain-drenched streets of Srinagar, with youths in several areas throwing stones at moving vehicles. The windscreens of more than a dozen vehicles were smashed, witnesses said.

Police resorted to force near Kashmir’s main mosque in downtown Srinagar, using canes to disperse stone-throwing Muslim youths, witnesses said.

Police also detained the vice chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Javed Mir and seven of his associates when they held a protest march, other witnesses said.

Mir and several dozen associates emerged from JKLF headquarters in Maisuma area holding banners reading: “Hanging is first gift to peace process from Delhi.”

Police charged at them after they had walked only 100 meters and dragged Mir and seven of his associates into waiting security vehicles.

In the same area, several dozen Muslim lawyers staged a demonstration which was blocked by police near Srinagar’s lower court, witnesses said.

Over a dozen lawyers were detained, while others went back into the court premises and held a noisy demonstration against the sentence.—AFP