Most shops at Srinagar’s main commercial hub and its adjoining markets remained shut on Wednesday, as Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik was awarded with a life imprisonment in a terror financing case by a court in New Delhi. The shutdown was observed in absence of any bandh call by separatists.
Security forces were deployed in large numbers in volatile pockets of the city “to ward off any protests”. Markets also remained closed in large parts of the old city, including Hawal, Nowhatta, Zaina Kadal, and Safa Kadal.
Protesters, including women, assembled at the residence of Malik in Maisuma in Srinagar. Malik’s sister was seen reciting the Quran, ahead of the verdict.
