47-day-old Shopian Strike Called off

Following an appeal by Jammu and Kashmir High Court to call off strike going on in protest against rape and murder of Shopian women and to cooperate in probe, protestors ended the 47-day-old strike restoring normalcy in Shopian.

“We have called off the strike this morning in view of the appeal by the High Court,” Mohammad Shafi Khan, the Chief spokesman of Majlis-e-Mushawarat, which spearheaded the strike, said.

Shops, business and other establishments reopened and started functioning in Shopian within minutes of the announcement of the strike being called off.

Observing that the people of Shopian were not only suffering due to the strike but were also unable to assist in the investigation, Chief Justice Barin Gosh yesterday appealed to the locals to end the “hartal”.

The court also assured that “as the people of the state are behind them so is the High Court and it would be our collective effort to ultimately solve the crime and appropriately deal with the perpetrators of the heinous crime of rape followed by murder in accordance with law”.

However, Khan said the peaceful “sit-in protests” will continue till July 23 when the case will come up for hearing again.