Protests erupted in several parts of Kashmir Valley against the publication of Prophet Mohammed cartoons in French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo disrupting normalcy on Friday. The call for the strike was given by separatist and religious groups.
Shops and businesses remained shut and public transport was hit in Srinagar and other towns. Attendance in government offices was also affected by the strike.
Hundreds of people took to streets immediately after the Friday prayers protesting against the publication. Shouting slogans, people agitated in several parts Srinagar and other towns. However, the protests dispersed peacefully, according to a senior police officer. Contingents of police and the Central Reserve Police Force have been deployed in various parts of the city.
Mutahida Ulema-e-Ahlisunnat Waljamat, an amalgam of various religious organisations in the Valley, called for a strike to protest the publishing of the "blasphemous" caricatures by the magazine.
The strike call was also endorsed by hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who termed the recent reprinting of the sketches of the Prophet in France as "journalistic hooliganism" and asked people to hold protests against the act.
"Any act of dishonour against the Prophet of Islam is unacceptable for every Muslim of the world and to raise voice against this act is the matter of faith for every Muslim," Geelani said in a statement on Thursday.
Thousands of people marched in Pakistan Thursday as anger remains high over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The march in Karachi was the biggest in a series of demonstrations against the weekly, whose Paris offices were attacked on January 7 by Islamist gunmen, killing 12 people.
With inputs from agencies
