MIRPUR, Feb 11: The 19th martyrdom day of Kashmiri leader Muhammad Maqbool Butt was observed on both sides of the valley on Friday with renewed pledges that the mission of the late leader would be advanced until the Kashmiris were granted their legitimate right to self-determination.

Processions were taken out and rallies held in small and major towns of the Occupied and Azad Kashmir to pay rich tributes to Mr Butt who had been martyred on this day in the Tihar Jail of New Delhi in 1984.

In the occupied Kashmir, a complete strike on the call of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference crippled daily life. Processions were taken out jointly by the Jammu & Kashmir National Liberation Front, the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front and the Jammu & Kashmir National Students Federation.

The activists marched through major city streets, carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans demanding liberation of Kashmir. The leaders said that Shaheed Maqbool Butt was the beacon of light for the Kashmiri people struggling for the freedom of their motherland from the Indian yoke.

A pioneer of the separatist cause, Mr Butt was executed 21 years ago after being convicted on what supporters say were trumped-up charges. He was the founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.

He was hanged after a court found him guilty of murdering a bank manager during a failed bank robbery. Activists say the charges against Mr Butt were fabricated. "Butt's mission will be taken to its logical conclusion," said Yasin Malik, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front which declared a unilateral cease fire in 1994 and became a political group.

"His sacrifice will not go to waste," he said. His statement came as the region's leading separatist, Shabir Shah, appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for Butt's remains to be handed over to Kashmiri.

"Our national hero lies imprisoned even after his death," Shah wrote in a letter distributed to reporters. He said handing over Butt's body would be "a golden confidence building measure" towards a negotiated settlement of Kashmir. -Agencies