Partial response to strike called by Hurriyat

A strike called by separatists to protest the attack on senior Hurriyat leader Fazal Haq Qureshi evoked a partial response in the city on Saturday.

While shops and business establishments remained closed in the old city, establishments in many areas of uptown were open and transport was plying normally on all routes.

Groups of youth took to streets in Nowhatta, Gojwara, Rajourikadal, Malaratta, Khawaja Bazar, Sarafkadal and Soura in downtown and pelted stones on passing vehicles to enforce the strike.

Contingents of police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in strength in the city to maintain law and order.

Sixty-five-year-old Qureshi was shot at by militants of Al-Nasreen outfit outside a mosque in Srinagar on Friday.

Doctors attending on him at the Soura Medical Institute here said Qureshi's condition was critical, as he has suffered significant brain damage.